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How To Become 

"A Knight of the Grip" 


FIRST SECTION 



ISSUED BY THE 


National Salesmen’s Training 

New York Association Chicago 
San Francisco 

Copyright 1917 by National Salesmen's Training Association 
















INDEX 


- „ 

✓ \ • 

y 


Opportunities in Salesmanship... 

The Value of and How to Study. 

Salesmanship. 

Applying for a Position. 

Forms of Making an Application. 

Instructions About References. 

Choosing a Good House to Work for. 

Securing a Contract. 

Salary vs. Commissions. 

Straight Commission. 

The Science of Salesmanship. 

The Application of Salesmanship to Trade. 

Getting Ready for the Road... 

Introductions... 

Preparing Samples. 

Displaying Samples. 

Specialty Salesmanship. 

Transportation. 

Hotels and Rates.:. 

Livery, Drayage, Bus, etc. 

The Salesman and Prices. 

Presenting Your Line. 

Suggestions. 

Displaying Goods. 

Self-Quiz Efficiency Tests. j .. . 


OCT 29 1917 

©CU.477258 


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HOW TO BECOME AKNIGHT 
OF THE GRIP 

OPPORTUNITIES IN SALESMANSHIP 

A PROFESSION OF WORLD SCOPE 

It is not too much to say that the wealth created in 
the entire civilized world through the manufacturing and 
business efficiency of the last half-century is more than 
was created in the six thousand years of development 
previous to that time. Much of this wealth is due to 
creative salesmanship and the distribution of most of it 
has come through efficient selling. 

This is the day of the salesman. If you can be of serv¬ 
ice in the distribution of this vast wealth, you can name 
a price directly commensurate with your services. 

Inasmuch as few men are far-seeing enough to seek 
what they need or want, it is the salesman’s duty to call 
on them and give them a clear understanding of how his 
products or service meets their requirements. He must 
sell them, otherwise they will not buy. 

COMPARISON WITH INSIDE WORK 

There is an unlimited demand for salesmen today. 

Clerical help is abundant. Professional and semi- 
professional schools turn out more graduates than can find 
positions. There is not only room for but a demand for 
the scientific salesman. 

Few men are able to seize opportunities as they come. 
They lack initiative and self-confidence. The man who 
chooses Salesmanship as his profession is the one who 
will got out of the small salary class into something that 
is bigger and better—a profession that will enable him to 
think and work out his ambitions, and in which his earn¬ 
ing power is based upon his training, personality and 
experience. 


3 


SERVICE IN SALESMANSHIP 

The opportunity for rendering service in the sale of 
goods puts Salesmanship at the head of the professions in 
usefulness to mankind. To sell a legitimate, useful arti¬ 
cle to a customer who would not have had the benefit 
of it without your bringing it to his attention is to do him 
a favor. 

Many a widow has thanked the insurance agent for 
selling her deceased husband insurance against his prej¬ 
udices. Many an orphan has received an education from 
the payment received from the insurance people. The 
things that really benefit us most must be sold to us—it 
seems as though the things we desire most we need the least. 

Cash registers remove temptation from the weak- 
moraled clerk. Many a young man has had his greatest 
lesson in honesty impressed upon him by the necessity 
of living up to the strict integrity demanded by the cash 
register. Men are creatures of habit, and anything that 
will make these habits good ones is a distinct benefit 
to mankind. Adding machines are bringing up book¬ 
keeping efficiency. Typewriters are largely responsible 
for the growth of the mail order business. 

Men did not want the wonderful inventions of the past 
fifty years. Salesmanship is responsible for the general 
use of sewing machines, agricultural machinery, electric 
lights, gasoline motors, and most of the comforts of life 
we have today. Even shortened hours of labor, better 
pay, a better understanding between capital and labor, 
are the result of one phase of Salesmanship. 

DEMAND FOR SALESMEN 

If you will pick up any large city paper, you will find 
three or four times as many ads calling for salesmen as 
for any other single line of work. This enormous demand 
for men who can sell is brought about by the necessity 
of the producer moving his goods or service into the hands 
of that part of the public which will benefit by their use. 


4 


All large business concerns are constantly on the look¬ 
out for capable men who can help them keep their prod¬ 
ucts moving toward the consumer. Any man who has 
trained himself in Scientific Salesmanship, and who has 
the confidence to sell his services, as well as his goods, 
will always find a place to use his training. 

THE INCREASING FIELD 

Each year scores of inventions come into being, many 
of which are of the utmost value to the public. But these 
inventions are not recognized as having such value until 
demonstrated by the progressive salesman. It is necessary, 
not only that an article have merit, but that attention 
be called to it, and kept centered on it, and the salesman 
performs this task with thoroughness and enthusiasm. 

Special lines of business are now developing, and it 
will be the duty of the salesman to bring the advantages 
of these specialities before the public. 

REMUNERATION 

In no other field is there the opportunity of earning 
as much money as there is in Salesmanship. Here a man 
earns what he is worth; it is always possible for an efficient 
salesman to get a job and when he goes out after the 
business the more sales he makes the more money he earns. 

An advantage the traveling salesman has is that, as 
a rule, he can save a good part of what he makes. He 
is on the road most of the time, and does not pay out 
much of his salary or commission for living expenses. If 
he is married, however, he may have his home in a town 
where he can get convenient transportation to and from 
his field of activity. 

There is always a chance for the man who is out to sell 
things to run across a good opportunity, and, being trained 
to seize such opportunities, he can turn them to good 
advantage. Many salesmen make investments that make 
them independent long before the average man is getting 
a real start toward success. 


5 


ADVANCEMENT 

Most executives come from the men who sell things. 
It is recognized by business men that the man who can 
sell, who can handle his customers, who can give a good 
account of himself on the road, is a safe man to trust with 
authority in the home office. Thus it is that many sales¬ 
men are taken off the road and become Sales Managers 
and executives in the main offices of the firm. 

There is also the chance that the salesman will be put 
in charge of some branch office, or that he will buy out 
one of his customers and go in business for himself. 

As the salesman’s success depends in large degree upon 
his personality, it is necessary for him to develop it to the 
highest degree. This gives him influence over other men, 
and puts him in line for political preferment, or other 
fields of public endeavor, should he care to prepare for 
them. 

Many successful salesmen have become lawyers, and 
their broad knowledge of human nature, as well as their 
keen insight into the best methods of influencing others 
through argument and persuasion and suggestion have 
made them unusually successful, many of them rising 
to the higher positions as corporation lawyers. 

SOCIAL OPPORTUNITIES 

To the man who likes to know people, to develop that 
exceptional knowledge of human nature, that so many 
of our big men assert is the basis of their success, Salesman¬ 
ship offers abundant opportunity. To the man who 
values friendship as one of the big things in life, no other 
profession can compare with this. 

This knowledge of human nature, which makes it 
easy for the salesman to mix with any class of people, 
brings him a welcome wherever he goes, and insures the 
good-will of friends and acquaintances. The salesman 
is thus surrounded with social as well as business oppor¬ 
tunities. 


6 


EXECUTIVE POWER 

As a salesman, your constant association with men of 
all classes gives you knowledge of their characteristics 
and how to handle them. You will have wrested success 
from contact with many a big man, and this ability will 
be of the greatest value, should you ever get into an execu¬ 
tive position. 

By meeting big men, you get bigger ideas. You learn 
their plans and methods and get self-confidence that will 
help you achieve. The time will come when an oppor¬ 
tunity to work your own plans will be presented, and then 
it is up to you to make good. Careful attention to your 
work as a salesman is the thing that is going to make the 
larger opportunities become real. 

Executive positions are waiting for the man who knows 
his business and who can apply the principles of sales¬ 
manship. 

THE PROMOTER 

The field of promotion is really the highest and most 
exacting form of Salesmanship. The richest men in the 
country are men who have promoted enterprises, and who 
have won out with the plans they promoted by their 
Salesmanship ability and experience. 

If you seek great wealth and great honor in business, 
be willing to put in much effort to attain it, as the men 
who have made good in promotion are the men who have 
been willing to work hardest. 

TRAVELING 

Would you like to travel and see your country—or 
the world? Here is your opportunity. The salesman 
will often travel from the lumber district of Maine to the 
alkali deserts of southern California. He will see the 
pecan groves of Florida, and the cotton fields of the South¬ 
land. He will become familiar with the wheat belt of Kan¬ 
sas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas. He will see the fast¬ 
growing cities of the Middle West. He will see the moun- 


7 


tains and the valleys, the lakes and the rivers and the 
seas. He will see city, village, and country life. 

In all seasons of the year the salesman can see Nature 
in her beauty. He will travel much and will learn and 
broaden his vision. He will become familiar with new 
landscapes, with all types of his countrymen, and will 
learn the customs of all kinds of peoples. He will learn 
to be all things to all men, and he becomes a man of men 
by associating commercially and socially with them. 

He can, if he wants to, see the ruins of the Old World, 
and the waterfalls of the New. He can see the world 
as it is. He can become a world citizen, for in traveling 
abroad, he will know foreign lands as well as he does his 
own. He will know people, not only because he has 
seen them, but because he has lived with them, because he 
has iti a sense become a part of them, and thought, acted, 
and done business with them. 

EDUCATION AND CULTURE 

Is it education you want? Salesmanship will encourage 
you to learn all you can, for it offers opportunity for use 
of all you can learn. Is it culture? Meeting people and 
finding out their likes and dislikes will bring you the 
consideration for others which is the foundation of true 
culture. As a salesman you will meet people who are 
refined and educated, if you will only prepare yourself 
for such opportunity. 

The study of Salesmanship includes almost the entire 
range of human activity, and it is in itself a broadening 
influence without equal. 

If you need time for study, the hours of Salesmanship 
are not so long as to make it impossible for you to develop 
your mind. Between trips or studying on trains, many 
salesmen have mastered foreign languages, thus preparing 
themselves for special service in foreign countries. Today 
there is an excellent opportunity for the man who will 
study Spanish, on account of the steadily increasing de¬ 
mand for American goods in the Latin-American countries. 


8 


BROADENING OF VIEWPOINT 

Among men who are alive to the better things in life, 
a chief source of pleasure comes from broadening their 
fields of activity, or from learning about new lands, new 
inventions, new methods, new peoples. In salesmanship 
there is a wonderful opportunity to satisfy the most exact¬ 
ing ambitions of a progressive man. Here he has a pro¬ 
fession which will pay him for every bit of knowledge 
he possesses or acquires. This will pay him for his per¬ 
sonality, will return dividends for each hour of work he 
puts in, will give him full play for all his abilities and 
talents, and will make him a man in the full sense of the 
term. 

SALESMAN CAN DO WELL BY HIS FAMILY 

The earning power of the average salesman is con¬ 
siderably above that of the average man doing inside 
work. For this reason he is able to give his family all 
the necessities of life and many luxuries. This the average 
inside worker cannot always do. Furthermore, the in¬ 
side worker has little hope for the future. The sales¬ 
man, if he pays strict attention to his business, and de¬ 
velops himself, is always able to get a better position 
as he grows in experience. He is always able to earn more 
money than he did the preceding year. While it is true 
that the average office worker, or semi-trained man, 
gets certain increases in salary or income, these increases 
are smaller and do not come nearly so quickly as to the 
salesman, inasmuch as he is the profitmaker of the firm. 

Not only can the salesman provide the comforts of 
life for his family, because of his greater earning capacity, 
but he can occasionally take his wife and children on trips 
throughout the territory. He can educate his children 
better. Furthermore, he learns the value of giving them 
better physical training, better minds, and stronger per¬ 
sonalities, because he knows the principles underlying 
development of character. 


9 


WILL-POWER, INITIATIVE, SELF-CONFIDENCE 

Do you want to strengthen your will-power? Get 
into Salesmanship! By overcoming any opposition that 
you meet, you develop your will-power and initiative. 
Initiative is the ability and courage to step forward and do 
things. Without it no great success has ever been achieved. 
Noted men of letters, science, art, physical prowess, of 
finance, of statecraft, etc., have all possessed this quality 
to a marked degree. 

If you have ability, and do not know how to get full 
value for it, Salesmanship will give you the self-expres¬ 
sion and self-confidence that brings you greater success. 
Timidity will be overcome. You will learn how to assert 
yourself so you can take your rightful place as a man 
among men. 

BE YOUR OWN BOSS 

As a salesman you are practically your own boss. 
While you are directly under the Sales Manager, you super¬ 
vise your own work. It is up to you to make good, and 
knowing that it is up to you to make good, YOU MAKE 
GOOD. The danger of being your own boss is that you 
will not apply yourself as assiduously as you would if you had 
to punch a clock, but development of the success qualities 
will give you the power of self-control, and you will be 
your own master—not the slave of your negative qualities. 

Some men cannot work without supervision. As a 
salesman you acquire the ability to do things without 
being told. Should you ever go into business for yourself 
this training will enable you to win success through con¬ 
trolling your time and energy, and turning it into profit. 
THE “I WILL” SPIRIT 

The motto of Chicago is “I will.” It is expressed in 
the attitude of her citizens, as well as in the financial 
power and prestige of her men. 

Burned down by fire in 1871, she has risen from her 
ashes until today she is the leading market place of the 


10 


Middle West. She is second only to New York City in 
population. Yet, less than fifty years ago, she was a 
mass of smoking, smouldering ruins, thousands of her 
people homeless, seemingly without hope for the future. 

Chicago was a pioneer town. Her people had initia¬ 
tive. They had faith in themselves. They had the hardy 
virtues of the pioneers of all time. 

When the flames were out, in the spirit of Chicago 
there was kindled a flaming torch of desire that determined 
her future, a desire to rebuild herself before the world 
and become greater than ever before. 

Calmly and serenely she sits today at the foot of Lake 
Michigan as an example of the “never say die” spirit. 

WIN ON YOUR MERIT 

As with cities, so with individuals. Opportunities 
await those that have the initiative to turn creative abil¬ 
ities into channels from which results can flow. 

Look about you! Your opportunity today is as good 
as ever before. Make your life count for something big¬ 
ger and better in the future than it has counted for ill the 
past. Grow! Improve! Be a better man! Success 
should be yours! Make it yours through the dominating 
power of your Will. 

The financial, industrial, and commercial world hinge 
upon Salesmanship. With the knowledge you obtain from 
this course, your opportunities for success will be greatly 
increased. You are now learning the world’s greatest 
profession, and you are going to be worthy of all the re¬ 
wards that can come from such a calling, if you apply 
yourself as herein outlined. 

Lift up your chest. Take a deep breath. Go out, 
looking each man squarely and courageously in the eye, 
with the realization that soon you too will be rendering 
greater service to humanity, as well as increasing your 
own personality and earning power. 


11 


THE VALUE OF AND HOW TO STUDY 

STUDY TO LEARN 

There is only one reason for study and that is to learn 
facts and principles that will be of value to you in increas¬ 
ing your income, usefulness, and happiness. You are 
taking up this Course to develop your power in Salesman¬ 
ship. In order to reap the full benefit, you must master 
the principles and laws herein outlined. Study to learn. 
Get right down and dig out every thought contained in 
the lessons which follow. Once you master this Course 
and develop your mind and body and will in harmony 
with the principles of Salesmanship, you are an assured 
success. 

It is true that you may understand many of the prin¬ 
ciples and laws herein set forth, but the only way to know 
that you understand Salesmanship, from your past exper¬ 
ience, observation, and education, is to sell goods. If 
you already understand many of the principles it should 
be an encouragement to you, and should spur you on to 
master those things which you do not know. 

The lessons contained in the four textbooks have been 
prepared with the view of “Telling you what to do” and 
the lessons in the three bulletin books, or rather, lectures 
or talks on the lessons found in the textbooks, have been 
prepared with the view of teaching and illustrating to you 
“How to do it.” 

MASTER ONE PRINCIPLE AT A TIME 

The only way you are going to master the facts, ideas, 
and instructions contained in these lessons is to take 
one sentence at a time and get the thought out of that. 
The only way you can eat a bushel of nuts is to eat one 
nut at a time. You cannot eat an entire bushel of nuts 
in one day, but it would be a simple matter to eat that 
many nuts in several months by eating a dozen each day. 
There is this difference, however. The capacity of the 
mind is unlimited, while the capacity of the body is lim- 


12 


ited. Therefore, keep your mind right on this subject, 
and you may add even a hundred new facts and ideas 
to your mental capacity each day as you proceed with 
the Course and when you are finished with these lessons 
you will have a broad and practical knowledge of Sales¬ 
manship. 

IF YOU WANT SUCCESS, YOU WILL PROGRESS 

A desire to learn and ability to read and apply what 
you learn is all that is necessary for the average man or 
woman who wishes to improve. 

Thousands of men and women are now making a suc¬ 
cess of Salesmanship through the principles taught herein 
and you may be sure application on your part will bring 
you the continued progress and ultimate success you 
hoped for when you enrolled with us. With the careful 
education and training we are outlining in these lessons, 
there is absolutely no excuse for failure. We expect you 
to be a success. Think of yourself as becoming a sales¬ 
man through this study, and you will develop rapidly. 

GET A DETERMINED MENTAL ATTITUDE 

A man’s mental attitude when he begins a task has 
much to do with the results he obtains. If you believe 
you are going to succeed you already have the battle 
half won. Refuse to think of failure. If a man thinks 
success, talks success, dreams success, he is so busy with 
success-thoughts and with success-actions that he soon 
forces society to recognize him as a success. 

STUDY HARD TO WIN SUCCESS 

“Study without ceasing.” This does not mean that 
you are to devote all your time to reading. Sleep is a 
necessity. Most men require eight hours out of each 
twenty-four. There are left sixteen hours out of the day 
which you can use for self-improvement. Study requires 
that you keep mentally and physically wide-awake. Every 
minute of the day you should be reading, observing or 


13 


working; or you should be thinking over what you have read, 
what you have observed, or what you have experienced. 

Suppose you have a competitor who studies an hour 
a day and thinks that is enough. If you make your 
daily work one continual study, in the broadest sense 
of the word, you have a tremendous advantage over such 
a man, because you are analyzing and classifying your 
experience and the experiences of others, and making 
them a part of yourself. Therefore, you are getting the 
truest kind of an education, the most effective kind of 
knowledge, because you are making your education prac¬ 
tical as fast as you acquire it. 

STUDY AT ALL TIMES 

If you are situated so you can study this Course at a 
set time during the day, do so. When you have once 
established the habit of studying a certain number of hours 
either before breakfast, after breakfast, after supper, or 
during any other set time in the day, it will be easy for 
you to accomplish good results at that time. But you 
must not neglect your spare moments. Time spent in 
riding on street cars, on railroad trains, waiting for your 
meals, going to and from work, etc., can in most cases 
be put to actual study. 

REST IS AS IMPORTANT AS STUDY 

Some over-ambitious students forget that rest is as 
much a part of real study as the actual concentration 
itself. After you have read for fifteen or twenty minutes 
it is a good idea to take your mind off your subject entirely 
for a minute or so and let it dwell upon nothing in partic¬ 
ular. Of course, an active mind always has thoughts 
and when you study you have your mind positively focused 
on the subject in hand. The idea is to mediate: that is, 
just let the thoughts come to you rather than try to seize 
them through concentration. Meditation is the way 
to rest your mind after mental exertion. Many of the 


14 


best thoughts you will have will come to you when you 
are in this subconscious state of mind. 

You probably think that your heart beats without 
ceasing, but physiologically this is not the case. Your 
heart rests a definite part of a second after each beat. 
First there is an action and then a rest. This is repeated 
day and night for the length of a man’s life. Because 
of these short intervals of rest the heart is able to do its 
work as the pumping station of the blood year after year 
without wearing out. Remember this illustration when 
studying. You will keep your mind in perfect condition 
and get better results if you give yourself a chance to rest 
when studying. 

We observe and study with our eyes and when they 
are tired nature forces the lids to droop and we sleep. 
After the mind is rested and the body resumes a normal 
state we awake and find it is just as hard to keep the 
eyes closed now as it was to keep them open when tired. 
Do not be afraid of over-study, if you take proper rest 
periods. Use every precaution to study in pure air and 
with the light so it will not strain the eyes by shining into 
them, and then pursue your study with all your powers. 

CONCENTRATE WHEN YOU STUDY AND YOU 
WILL LEARN 

Concentration is the basis of memory. If we should 
ask you to describe the greatest fire you had ever seen, 
you could probably do so almost in detail. You remem¬ 
ber how it looked for years after it took place. The 
reason is that your mind was focused upon that fire through 
the interest you had in seeing something unusual. This 
goes to show the power of memory. You can use this 
same power in daily study IF YOU WILL by giving 
intense interest to the one thing that is before you, and 
considering it for the time being the most important 
thing you can do. 

Power of will also comes through concentration. You 


15 


will not concentrate unless you have the will to do it. 
If you have the will power you can force yourself to think 
of one thing at a time, and this is concentration. 

BECOME A SPECIALIST AND WIN REAL SUCCESS 

The Jack-of-all-trades had his place in a day and age 
of inefficiency. Today a man must be a specialist to win 
unusual success. There is hardly room for the man who 
knows many things but nothing unusually well. 

This does not mean that you cannot know more than 
one thing. You may be proficient in half a dozen things; 
but you must be especially qualified in one line to win suc¬ 
cess. If you are thinking about a good time when you 
are reading and studying, you are not going to succeed 
as well as you would if you thought only about the task 
in hand. Much mind wandering will make you a dyed- 
in-the-wool failure. You may not be interested in your 
present position or your present line, but you are not ca¬ 
pable of judging whether you are really interested in it 
or not if you have not studied it. 

What do you know about your present position or 
line of work? 

Maybe it is the most interesting line in the world. 
Superficial information is not sufficient to tell whether 
you like it or not. You have met some person who, on 
being introduced to you, did not become interesting but 
who, on further acquaintance, became a warm friend. 
The same thing is true of work. The only way you are 
going to know whether or not you like it is to find out 
all about it. You can teach yourself to like any good 
food or drink. In the same way you can teach yourself 
to like your work. 

GET THE THOUGHT NOT THE WORDS 

A clear illustration of the difference between getting 
the meat out of a subject and superficial study was given 
by a Physics professor. One day he told his class to 
memorize several definitions. The next morning he had 


16 


each person in the class recite the memorized definitions. 
There were about twenty in the class, half were young 
women and half were young men. In every case the 
young women gave a word-for-word recitation of the book 
definition. The young men, on the contrary, gave the 
definition in their own words. The professor said that he 
had tried that same thing out year after year and found 
that the young women always memorized the words 
without getting all the underlying principle, but that the 
young men studied the principle and could therefore tell 
about it in their own words. He said that this mental 
difference between the attitude of men and women was 
responsible for the success of men in mechanical lines. 
The girls in any High School in the land average higher 
in their grades than the boys, and yet even some of the 
brightest girls fall down when it comes to making actual 
use of their knowledge. The boys on the other hand 
learn the principles, possibly because they are too restless 
to memorize, and are able to apply these principles in after 
life. This will clearly show you the value of learning by 
principle as against learning by rote. If you think as you 
read you will benefit every faculty of your mind. While this 
course analyzes different traits of mind and body separately, 
the mind and body are one and you must put yourself 
into your subject to become a successful salesman. 

WRITE DOWN YOUR OBSERVATIONS, ETC. 

Carry a notebook with you and jot down such thoughts 
or facts as come to you through observation and exper¬ 
ience, and any ideas that come to you while studying these 
lessons. If you want to remember anything write it down. 
Many successful men have found it an advantage to write 
down thoughts, or a name and address, or anything else 
they wanted to remember, on a slip of paper, even though 
they afterwards tore it up. 

If you develop your power of memory you will be a 
better trained man than if you have to depend entirely 


17 


on a notebook. Your mind can be trained to retain 
messages as perfectly as a notebook would retain them. 
Through the five senses the mind photographs objects 
and impressions in much the same way as does a kodak. 
The average person has two or three billion brain cells. 
Each one is capable of retaining an impression. You 
have sufficient capacity to attain a large degree of success 
if you use even a small part of your brain cells in storing 
objects and impressions. 

When you can take a book and read it through and 
master the contents with one reading you may consider 
yourself a truly educated man. After thus reading 
through a book you should be able to answer any question 
that is asked you clearly and intelligently. This is the 
concentration you should aim to attain. 

STUDY TODAY AND EVERY DAY TO SUCCEED 

You have no absolute assurance that you will have 
time to study tomorrow. Therefore study today. An¬ 
alyze your observations and experiences and reading today. 
Use your judgment today. Your judgment inproves 
through use. If you respect yourself, certainly you will 
consider that you are worth improving. 

If you had a valuable piece of farm land you would 
plant it in crops and not let the weeds grow. Many a 
man has in spite of the weeds in his nature developed a 
strong character, but the strength of his character did not 
come because of the weed growth, but because when he 
once started to develop the crops he was forced to fight 
extra hard to get rid of the weeds. Indirectly the strength 
of his character depended upon overcoming those obstacles. 
Most of us, however, have enough to overcome in our 
make-up that it is quite unnecessary to encourage the weeds 
or negative qualities in order to have something to overcome. 

STUDY FROM THE BEGINNING TO THE END 

If you are curious you will naturally read the last part 
of a lesson before taking up the first, but if you have self- 


18 


control you will start in at the beginning of each lesson 
and study straight through it. That is a man's way and 
you are a man-builder. 

Resist the temptation to read ahead of where you have 
actually mastered your subject, and you will develop power 
of will. Power of will, as we have said before, is the basis 
of education. The harder it is to master any particular 
point in these lessons the harder you must concentrate 
and think and reason and analyze to get it. Get each 
point as it comes up, or you will not get it at all. 

Know the laws and principles outlined in this Course 
so well that your study, observation, and experience 
become a part of you. Then you can put your educa¬ 
tion to practical use. Live this Course day by day in order 
to get true benefit from the time and effort you put into it. 

It is unlawful to cash a check without having money 
in the bank to cover it. If you try to succeed in life 
without a proper investment in yourself, you are bound 
to suffer sooner or later. The safe way, and the only 
sure way, is to invest in yourself and then draw coupons 
on your education and experience. 


19 


SALESMANSHIP 

RELATION OF SALESMANSHIP TO BUSINESS 

What the sun is to the earth, Salesmanship is to busi¬ 
ness. Without the creative power of the sun all plants 
would die and the earth become a desolate wilderness 
of barren deserts and ragged mountain ranges. Sales¬ 
manship is the force that keeps business moving. Trans¬ 
portation, coal and iron and copper mines, steel mills, 
postal service, the skyscrapers—these elements in our 
modern life owe their presence to creative salesmanship, 
to the ability of the salesman to keep products of mind 
and hand moving from the producer to the consumer. 

Salesmanship is the creator of happiness, the bulwark 
of continued efficient service to humanity. Without 
the creative force of Salesmanship, the greatest inventions 
would have rusted away without ever reaching the user. 
People do not seek new things. They more often fight 
against them. The man or set of men who see a profit 
in an article, who believe they have the ability to convince 
the public of its value, who have the courage and the 
imagination to sell it—these are the men who force the 
general mass of mankind to remake themselves to fit the 
new conditions, to use improvements, or to do any partic¬ 
ular act that will help the mental, physical, or moral prog¬ 
ress of society. 

COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE OF THE SALESMAN 

Salesmanship is the driving wheel of commerce. The 
individual salesman is a cog in the wheel that keeps it mov¬ 
ing. To be able to match wits with successful business 
men, and to persuade them to do his will, is the salesman's 
inspiration. Meeting men, and selling goods, have de¬ 
veloped many a salesman's personality until he has become 
one of the giants of business. 

Salesmanship is work. It is hard work. It is man's 
work. From it you will earn all you seek and demand. 


20 


It is worthy of the mettle and genius of any man. It 
will develop the success qualities in you. It will make 
you enthusiastic, optimistic, energetic, self-respecting, 
self-confident, and alive to your-self-interest. 

DEVELOPMENT OF SALESMANSHIP 

Even before the dawn of our modern civilization, 
people came together for the purpose of exchanging their 
products. First it was done man to man. Later there 
was a trading ground or station where the members of a 
tribe or community gathered. Coming nearer our present 
time, the market place became the exchange center, much 
as it is in the foreign settlements of our great cities. In 
more civilized countries, especially in the smaller towns, 
the typical country store took the place of the community 
market. Here a man could trade produce for goods, or 
buy for cash. 

The modern battle for business has largely displaced 
these inefficient methods in the great centers of popula¬ 
tion, and we now have our department stores and other 
large institutions where money is the only medium of 
exchange, and many of these concerns employ thousands 
of people to serve the general public. 

Not only have institutions taken the place of small 
trading centers, but continued competition has forced 
business men to seek new customers outside their im¬ 
mediate vicinities. As the business man cannot well 
leave his business in the hands of others, and as he is more 
of an executive than a business getter, he delegates this 
power to one or more men who have come to be known 
as salesmen, traveling salesmen, commercial travelers, etc. 

BEGINNING OF MANUFACTURING 

The present industrial system came into being with 
the application of the steam engine to industry, several 
generations ago. The first unit of production was known 
as the family or feudal system, where the family and its 


21 


servants and slaves produced their own goods for their 
own use and consumption. 

Then as men threw off the shackles that bound them 
to their lords or masters, the handicraft system developed. 
In this system an artisan used his own material and his 
own tools and worked up the finished article in his own 
home, after which he sold or traded to the customer who 
had ordered it. At this stage of society, initiative, as 
we know it today, had hardly developed. The workman 
did not get goods ready for the customer but made them 
only when he had the customer in advance. Our present- 
day custom tailors and our custom shoemakers are sur¬ 
vivals of this time. 

Then as time went on the domestic system of produc¬ 
tion developed out of the handicraft system. Men of 
business sense saw it would pay them to buy the workers’ 
products and then resell them to those needing them 
at a profit to themselves. These merchants got into 
competition with one another. They began to buy the 
materials, turn them over to workmen who manufactured 
them. 

The artisan still was the owner of his tools, and he was 
helped by his family in turning out his goods. He usually 
lived on a small plot of ground where he could raise his 
vegetables and have domestic animals. The sweatshop 
home workers of our large cities are a survival of this age. 

PRESENT INDUSTRIAL SYSTEM AND SALES¬ 
MANSHIP 

Finally, we came to our present development through 
the great mechanical inventions brought forth about the 
time of the American Revolutionary War. The applica¬ 
tion of steam power to manufacturing brought us to the 
factory system of the present day. Here the tools became 
the property of the employer. Also, the factories were 
more or less big buildings and were occupied by the finest 
machinery available. 


22 


To be near their work workmen began to build homes 
near the factory. Cities sprang into existence and the 
factories became the centers of great masses of popula¬ 
tion. As capital increased and machinery was improved 
it became possible to increase the varieties of articles 
produced by a single factory, as well as the number of the 
same article it could manufacture. 

As the railroads and steamship lines were developed, 
as the telegraph and the telephone and the newspapers 
spread information, as men and women began to travel 
more, outlying communities realized that they needed 
the products of the manufacturing plants. Therefore 
the factories constantly added to their size and soon 
grew into massive concerns, in some cases employing thou¬ 
sands of men and women and children. 

FACTORIES INCREASED COMPETITION 
Competition has been constantly increasing under 
our factory system, and the business man of the present 
day is forced to use methods that will enable him to make 
a profit and at the same time sell his goods at the lowest 
possible price. Hence, he is on the lookout for the Effi¬ 
ciency Engineer and the Scientific Salesman. 

He must keep costs down and keep selling on the jump 
to make money. Thus he has had his attention called 
to the selling, as well as the producing end of his business. 
He finds that by increasing the amount of a given article 
he can decrease the cost of handling it. But he must 
sell the larger amount of goods produced, and here is 
where he must have the salesman’s help. 

COMPETITION FORCED EFFICIENCY IN SELLING 
When competition became keen, business men, as 
individuals first, and then in co-operation, realized that 
interchange of ideas between salesmen would undoubtedly 
enable the inferior or inexperienced men to absorb at least 
some of the good ideas and plans of the result-getting, 
more experienced salesmen—those men whose names 


23 


were synonymous with big orders and good service to the 
firm and customers. 

When these salesmen got together it was discovered 
that the best of them used ideas and plans in getting 
business and rendering service that conformed to easily 
recognized principles of thinking, conduct, and action. 
As bigger bodies of men came together, it was discovered 
that the ideas and plans of all successful salesmen lined 
up with definite regard for the principles worked out by 
the smaller groups. 

Then it became known that Salesmanship was a science 
as well as an art, as true and certain in its potentialities 
as any other science, except, perhaps, the exact science 
of Mathematics. 

WIDE-AWAKE SALESMANSHIP OVERCOMES 
COMPETITION 

The human element is the most important part of sell¬ 
ing. Be a success thinker to be a success-seller. A big 
part of your power is the enthusiasm you show. Business 
men are today realizing the value of the science of Sales¬ 
manship as a man-builder. They must have men. They 
must have men of confidence, self-control, thought-power, 
and energetic habits. 

The science of Salesmanship is the analyzed and synthe¬ 
sized experiences of thousands of trained salesmen. It 
is the purpose of this Course to outline the principles that 
underlie the successful selling so clearly that all who 
read may understand and apply them. These principles 
are not the result of theory, but come from the actual 
selling experience of men whose powers are what you 
want yours to be. You, too, can succeed by learning and 
applying the same principles as these men have used to 
become successful. 

STANDARD METHODS RESULT FROM 
THOROUGH KNOWLEDGE 

There are two sides to any fence. There are always 
24 


two ways of making a sale: one is efficient, the other is 
inefficient. The efficient way is the better way, and 
brings bigger and quicker sales. The inefficient way may 
bring mediocre success, but in these days of keen com¬ 
petition, mediocre success is equivalent to outright fail¬ 
ure when a competitor gets busy with progressive ideas 
and methods of selling. 

When business men after investigation decide they 
have found the most efficient way they adopt it as a 
standard. Henry Ford has standardized his automobile, 
and he can turn out two thousand or more cars a day, 
all alike and all efficient road runners. When a selling 
method has been proved good in a particular business 
it is usual to adopt it as a standard for all the salesmen. 

The efficiency of a salesman depends entirely upon 
the amount of profitable sales he makes. You, as a sales¬ 
man, are going to succeed in proportion as you substitute 
exact knowledge for guesswork. Your value to your 
employer is primarily dependent upon selling goods in a 
better manner than the other fellow. 

THE SALESMAN SUPPLIES NEEDS AND WANTS 

You have certain wants and your existence and happi¬ 
ness depend upon satisfying a great number of them. 
Some things you want more than others. Some things 
you will sacrifice a great deal of time and money and energy 
to obtain; others do not attract you with sufficient power 
to demand initiative on your part. 

It is because you, and the millions of other individuals 
composing society, seek to satisfy your wants that wealth 
is produced in its varying forms, and then consumed. Sales¬ 
manship is necessary because of a universal demand for 
goods to satisfy human needs. As civilization grows 
more complex, the needs and wants of the average man 
increase, and through the gratification of these needs and 
wants he reaches a higher social plane. You, as a sales¬ 
man, are helping to distribute the products of mind and 

25 


hand more equitably among men, and are doing a dis¬ 
tinct social service. You may well be proud of the pro¬ 
fession you have entered, which is so closely bound up 
with the continual betterment of the conditions of man¬ 
kind that it may well be considered the greatest single 
profession in the world. 

WHY GOODS OR SERVICE IS FOR SALE 

The only reason for producing goods is to satisfy the 
needs or wants of those who would use them. Goods 
are produced either for home use or for sale to outsiders 
who may want them. Not many years ago the goods 
needed by the average family were produced in the home 
itself, but since the beginning of the modern industrial 
system people depend almost entirely upon others who are 
specially trained, and who have more efficient tools, to 
satisfy their needs and wants. The basis of business 
today is the production of goods for sale at a profit. 

Goods must satisfy either human needs or wants. It 
is not necessary that the public feel the need for the goods. 
It is only necessary that the goods fill a need, even though 
the prospect himself has not recognized that fact. It is 
the business of the salesman to teach the public the value 
of his goods. Even uncivilized human beings need food, 
clothing, and shelter. On the other hand, civilized be¬ 
ings not only require that these fundamental needs be 
satisfied, but also that many other things that bring 
satisfaction be supplied for their pleasure or happiness. 
Here again the creative salesman does real service by 
selling the prospect goods he does not want but which 
will be satisfactory to the purchaser when used by him. 

CIVILIZATION RESTS UPON SALESMANSHIP 

Practically the entire industrial and business growth 
of our present civilization rests upon Salesmanship. There 
is a continually larger demand for better goods. Although 
not generally known, it is recognized by those on the in- 


26 


side of business that it is easier to manufacture goods 
than to successfully market them. 

It is of no advantage to a business man to have a 
well-stocked store if he has no customers. He must get the 
customers and keep them coming time after time—when¬ 
ever, in fact, they need goods in his line. Almost any 
business or profession you can name uses the principles 
of Salesmanship to a lesser or greater degree in marketing 
its products, whether they be of brain or hand, or both. 

COMMERCIAL SALESMANSHIP DEFINED 

Salesmanship from the commercial standpoint may 
be considered as the ability to convince and persuade 
people to buy your product at a profit to yourself and with 
benefit to the buyer. 

The keynote of successful selling is to give the buyer 
satisfaction until your product has been consumed or has 
served its purpose, so that the buyer will recommend 
your goods to others if others are interested in such goods 
or service. The Salesman’s benefit is always a definite 
profit, the buyer’s benefit is service and sometimes profit. 
SALESMANSHIP IS PROGRESSIVE 

While the results already obtained from the study 
of Salesmanship have been little short of wonderful, the 
possible results are of still greater consequence to mankind. 

The beginnings of our present day Salesmanship came 
after the Civil War, when manufacturing began to be 
felt as a power in the nation. Even until the beginning 
of the Twentieth Century, however, it was considered 
that salesmen are born, not made by any artificial process 
such as study. But the invention and development of 
the telegraph, the telephone, the typewriter, the adding 
machine, the automobile, the aeroplane, the submarine, 
and the other wonders of our increasingly wonderful age, 
seemed to clear the cobwebs from the minds of men, and 
brought them to a realization that Salesmanship itself is 
capable of just as great development. 

27 


Scientific Salesmanship demands that each and every 
sale be based on knowledge, and conducted according to 
a reasonable application of that knowledge. Time and 
energy saved, profit received and service rendered, are 
the fundamentals of a successful sale. 

EFFICIENCY VS. RULE OF THUMB 

A few years ago business men did not understand the 
how, and why, and wherefore of conducting a business 
successfully. They left almost everything to chance. 
They guessed. They hoped. They wished. They did 
the best they could under the circumstances. They did 
not intensively cultivate their fields of service. They 
did not go out to new fields to sell their goods. 

Here and there, it is true, a man was to be found who 
knew the underlying facts about his business; but this 
type of business man was an exception, not the rule. 
How could men understand the fundamental relation of 
all business when they had not gotten together and talked 
things over; when they had not exchanged ideas and 
experiences through the printed page; when they had 
not yet even begun to realize that the experiences of others 
would help them in their particular business? 

In the old days, before efficiency had found a place 
in business, the man who could meet his bills and show 
a good front was a business success. The average business 
man gauged his success by the size of his bank book. 
He did not realize that he might have lost more in a year 
in waste and unmade sales than he had to his credit. But 
what he did not know did not bother him. 

This inadequate method of getting results would hard¬ 
ly be successful in these modern times when competition 
has become so keen that profits are based on the volume 
of goods sold at low margins, rather than on the large 
profits obtained through the individual sale. The 
modern salesman and business man makes efficiency his 
watchword. 


28 


SALESMANSHIP MET WITH OPPOSITION 


When Salesmanship came into prominence as a science, 
some very capable business men questioned its usefulness. 
It was new. That was enough to cause it to have many 
enemies. Rule of thumb men, many of whom had been 
successful under the unorganized conditions that we are 
only now leaving behind, felt that selling could only be 
done by natural-born salesmen, and, because they held 
so much reverence for the men who were actually produc¬ 
ing the business, set themselves up to discredit the “up¬ 
start” science. And this attitude was encouraged by 
many “natural-born salesmen,” who would necessarily 
oppose anything that would tend to train men to take 
their business away from them. 

The increased results, however, obtained by the newer 
scientific salesmen soon brought these men into the fold, 
until today it is difficult to find a modern business man 
who is opposed to learning Salesmanship in the same man¬ 
ner as other scientific subjects are learned; first, by theo¬ 
retical study; and, second, by actual practical experience. 

EFFICIENT SELLING BASED ON SCIENCE 

The facts pertaining to any line of activity will, when 
classified, enable a trained mind to understand its laws 
and discover its principles. Principles, when established 
as true and universal in application, make science. 

As Salesmanship is based on the underlying principles 
used by successful salesmen, as far as it has been possible 
to gather them together, it may be considered a true science. 
No matter what device a man sells, it is going to be sold 
in accord with recognized principles of Salesmanship, 
whether the salesman himself realizes he is using them 
or not. 

VARIATION OF PRINCIPLES 

When a principle has been established, variations 
can be as numerous as the branches on a tree, but each 


29 


variation when examined in the light of reason and science 
will be found to conform to the principle itself. 

It is an easy matter for a scientifically trained sales¬ 
man to enter an entirely new line of work and make a 
success of it from the first. The fact is that when a scien¬ 
tific salesman changes the goods he handles, he is only 
changing one element in SALESMANSHIP AND BUSI¬ 
NESS SUCCESS. 

Efficient selling is one of the most important things 
in bringing business success. Business success results 
from profitable turnover of goods or service. If a suffi¬ 
ciently large amount of goods is not sold there will be lit¬ 
tle or no profit, as the overhead will eat up the income. 

Wise buying, low costs, and good selling are the three 
fundamental elements in profitable business. If these 
are not properly handled the business is on the road to 
failure. It is true, however, that many business firms 
are making money because of efficient selling when the 
other two elements of their business are in bad condition. 
Hence, when an inefficient business can succeed through 
efficient salesmanship, the value of a good salesman is 
self-evident. 

Good selling is the driving power of a business. 
If sufficient goods are sold at a profit the other elements 
will gradually be taken care of. A business man who has 
a good selling force has a decided advantage over his 
competitors, and may even indirectly force them out 
of business. 

Salesmanship is the most important element in the 
exchange of goods. Its influence on business can hardly 
be overestimated. Yet it is the one element that is most 
likely to be neglected by the average business man. Mas¬ 
ter it, and the field of honorable success is open before you. 

SALESMAN’S RELATION TO BUSINESS 

Business growth depends upon the ability of the sales¬ 
man to obtain and hold and satisfy the customer. This 


30 


is the reason why the science of Salesmanship, which 
teaches just these things, is so important a part of the 
business scheme. The executive or manager may be 
thoroughly proficient in buying and in keeping the cost 
of producing the goods ready for sale to a minimum, but 
if the salesman does not bring in the orders with a profit 
attached, the business is not making progress, and may 
be on the down grade. Really efficient salesmen are hard 
to find; they are the most prolific cause of business develop¬ 
ment and success. Upon the man who can sell the goods 
quickly and keep the friendship of the customer rests 
our entire system of doing business at a profit. 

GOODS MUST BE SOLD 

No matter how good an article is it will not sell itself. 
The world will not seek your product, even if it is better 
than any other of its kind. The world is a big place, 
with millions of inhabitants in it. You have a dozen 
friends and a hundred personal acquaintances, a few of 
whom perhaps are possible customers. In the world 
the same proportionate number of people will be interested 
in your product. There may be enough people who want 
your product to make you rich, but an efficient method 
of getting at them is necessary, or your goods or service 
will be of no value to mankind. The world will know 
about your product if you go out and tell about it. That 
is the profession of Salesmanship. Other professions 
wait for results. Not so with the busy, active-minded 
salesman. 

WELL KNOWN ARTICLES SELL EASIER 

If an article is well known customers can usually obtain 
it at about the same price elsewhere, so it becomes the 
duty of the salesman to convince the customer that he 
should purchase from him or his firm. The personality 
of the salesman has much to do with bringing this condi¬ 
tion of sale about. After the service or article is sold, 
it becomes the duty of the salesman to keep the friend- 


31 


ship of the customer, and the duty of the house to give 
the customer some definite service that he canot get from 
another concern in the same line, so he will continue to 
buy. 

Competition is keen today. It is becoming keener 
day by day. Success is becoming almost impossible 
for the untrained salesman to attain. But the rewards 
are greater than ever before. It is just as important to 
get the customer as a permanent acquisition as it is to ren¬ 
der him unusual service or give him value for his money. 
PROFITS AND SERVICE 
Business today rests upon many sales at a small mar¬ 
gin of profit on each individual sale. Competition has 
compelled both wholesalers and retailers to sell more 
goods or deliver a better quality of service at a smaller 
profit than was the case a few years ago. Hence it has 
become important - that the business man increase the 
number of his customers in order to earn the same amount 
of money he did a short time ago. It is also true that 
men demand a better living than they did before, and 
this makes them go out after still bigger profits; and, be¬ 
cause of keen competition, they must make these increased 
profits through larger sales and more sales. 

It has therefore become an important part of business 
today to increase the selling ability of the individual sales¬ 
man. The salesman himself has an overhead, or necessary 
general expense, in much the same way as has the firm. 
This reason, as well as those above set forth, show that 
anything that helps increase the sales-closing efficiency 
of the average business getter is of value to the employer. 
FUNDAMENTALS OF SALESMANSHIP 
You must know not only how to sell goods, but also 
why you say each word and do each act in the conduct 
of a sale. Many men can sell goods, but cannot tell why 
they sell them. Not so with the scientific salesman. 
He knows and he does. After you have the interested 


32 


attention of the customer, you must know what to do 
next and how so you can proceed with him fast or slowly, 
according to the workings of his mind. You should 
become so familiar with your selling talk that an inter¬ 
ruption by the customer or by an outsider, even when it 
does not bear on the sale, does not disturb you. 

The best salesman is the man who can concentrate 
his entire attention on selling his goods, to the exclusion 
of all else. He must be able to hold his line of thought 
in mind, even when the customer is interrupted, or when 
the customer or an outsider interrupts him. 

Read your customer, which you can readily do after 
you have mastered the human nature studies in this 
course, then you know what to say and what to do to 
present your arguments in a convincing and persuasive 
manner. You will arouse in the buyer’s mind a desire 
for your goods that will result in a sale. 

OLD METHODS DISPLACED BY NEW 

The rule of thumb way of conducting a business is 
to let matters take their course. Policies are decided 
upon by mental coin-flipping. Guesswork rules. When 
business is good, it is the genius of the employer; when 
bad, it is laid on weather conditions, war depressions, 
crop failure, financial stringency, etc., etc. 

Order taking will sell some goods, the easiest to sell. 
But the balance, the goods the sale of which will de¬ 
termine the profits of the year’s business, can in many 
cases be moved into the customer’s hands only through 
efficient Salesmanship. Knowledge of scientific Sales¬ 
manship has pulled many a firm out of a deep hole when 
inefficient selling methods would have added it to the 
reports of Dun and Bradstreet as another bankrupt. 
Many other firms will be saved in the same way. 

A salesman by force of personality can sometimes sell 
buyers things they do not need, but this is not real Sales¬ 
manship, for Scientific Salesmanship rests upon the cus- 


33 


tomer receiving an adequate benefit from the goods or 
service purchased. The highest Salesmanship is exercised 
where the salesmen sells the customer an article that he 
did not think he needed and did not want, but which 
would be of actual use when bought. 

ORDER TAKERS AND SALESMEN 
An order taker is a man who waits upon customers, 
either in a store or in the field, and who sells them because 
the customers have already determined to buy. There is 
a wide difference between an order taker and a salesman. 
The salesman sells customers who may have had no thought 
of buying before he entered into conversation with them 
about his product. 

An order taker is really a human slot machine. Drop 
your penny in the slot, and get your gum, candy, pea¬ 
nuts, etc. A slot machine is put up to get the public’s 
money. That is the way the order taker feels about it 
also. A quick sale is all he wants. Service does not count 
with him. He does not take time to explain to the cus¬ 
tomer, even where necessary, how to use the goods. He 
might feel insulted if the customer presumed to waste 
his time asking questions about merchandise. He takes 
it for granted that the customer should already know how 
to use the goods. 

THE SCIENTIFIC SALESMAN 
Not so with the accommodating, scientific salesman. 
He is always willing, and even anxious, to please the cus¬ 
tomer in all possible ways. He wants to give satisfaction 
from the minute the customer enters into a transaction. 
He is the customer’s good friend, his business counsel, his 
silent-partner, as it were. Any suggestions he himself has 
picked up that will help the customer get better results 
from the use of the goods, he passes on to the customer 
as a matter of principle and sound business building. 

Business men are fast learning the difference between 
order takers and salesmen, and the former are becoming 


34 


a drug on the market, while the latter are commanding 
better salaries than ever before, and their services are in 
demand by all the better grade employers and firms. 
A shrewd business man is not willing to see profits lost 
through lost sales, through dissatisfied customers, through 
customers actually driven away by disinterested clerks 
and would-be salesmen. 

ORGANIZE YOUR KNOWLEDGE 

Scientific Salesmanship requires obtaining accurate 
knowledge and careful application of such knowledge. 
It results from careful application of such knowledge. 
It results from following methods that are in line with 
principles as firmly established as the rising and setting 
of the sun. 

The scientifically arranged sales talk, the sales talk 
that is efficient because it produces business with the least 
effort, is the full grown flower of Salesmanship develop¬ 
ment. You must know definitely the steps to take to sell 
your particular goods of brain or hand. At no time is 
it safe to fumble, to be at the mercy of the prospect or 
customer, for as surely as the buyer gets the advantage 
of the salesman, just that sure is the sale lost, and without 
a profit to the house. You ought to know: first, exactly 
what you should say; second, just what should be done, 
to get any particular man in the frame of mind where 
you can persuade him to buy. 

TALK TO SAY SOMETHING 

Many a sales-talk is TALK, and not POWER-WORDS 
that drive arguments home with such persuasive force 
as to clinch the sale. One wrong word may kill a sale 
almost made. One word, used in a positive way, clinch 
a sale. Words are powerful, and in a sales talk they are 
sent to the prospect to get interest , understanding , desire, 
decision , and action. Salesmanship shows how to use 
words to bring the prospect to a decision without loss of 
energy or time. 


35 


Even Sales Managers are seldom sure of the best way 
to plan and deliver a sales talk so that the prospect can be 
sold. 

The untrained salesman usually finds a way to bring 
about all the states of mind leading to action. After 
he has begun to get some results, even if they are not espe¬ 
cially good, he seldom looks for a better method of sell¬ 
ing. He thinks that his way is the only way, when care¬ 
ful investigation might show, and usually does show, 
that he is losing more business, because he does not adapt 
himself and his talk to changing conditions and different 
customers, than he actually gets. 

A salesman should increase his selling efficiency at 
least 100 per cent through Scientific Salesmanship. 

Some Sales Managers work out what they believe to be 
the best ways of getting sales and satisfying the customer, 
and then turn them over to the sales force for their use 
or for such improvement as may be necessary to fit their 
particular problems. You should, however, be able to plan 
your own sales talk and know how to satisfy the customer 
when you have finished this course of instruction. 

HANDLING THE CUSTOMER 

Inasmuch as a volume of business is necessary for the 
firm’s continued existence and profit-making, it is neces¬ 
sary to handle each customer with the greatest possible 
dispatch. The more quickly a bill of goods is sold the 
greater the profit on the transaction. The salesman 
should keep in mind, however, that the customer might 
increase his order or become a permanent customer if he 
has a little extra personal attention. Almost every buyer 
is pleased to have the salesman as his friend and advisor. 

It is imperative that the purchaser receive good treat¬ 
ment. As long as the goods are in use they must give 
satisfaction, or the buyer will become a “knocker,” and a 
sufficient number of knockers will ruin a salesman’s op¬ 
portunities of building up a business reputation. 


36 


The scientific salesman, because he understands the 
principles taught in this course, practically guarantees 
the purchaser’s second order by good service, and has him 
as a booster among other business men, who in turn are 
likely to purchase their goods from the salesman. 
BUYER MUST BE SATISFIED 

Business growth and expansion also enter into and 
becomes a part of scientific selling. Getting a profit is 
important, to be sure, but only failure can result if the 
goods or service are not satisfactory. The customer must 
be kept in the right frame of mind, so additional sales 
can be made as often as expedient. 

If it were possible for a continual supply of new cus¬ 
tomers to be created for the over-clever salesman’s benefit, 
a policy of big-profit, no-service might be made to pay 
financially, but it could never be made to pay morally 
regardless of the large amount of money such a salesman 
would earn for his firm and for himself. 

The customer has a right to demand that the goods 
you sell him, or the service you render him, measure up 
to the accepted standard of excellence, or up to the 
promises made by the salesman at the time of purchase. 
When one firm does not give satisfaction, another will. 
Business men seek, as a rule, to render service for the 
money they receive. Even when a customer is unreason¬ 
able, he is entitled to his attitude, as he is, in a real sense, 
an employer of the salesman. He indirectly helps to pay 
the salesman’s salary, and should therefore be given the 
same courteous treatment an employer would get from 
that salesman. It is better to lose a sale and make a busi¬ 
ness friend, than to sell the goods or service you have and 
make a “knocker.” 

SALES ARE WON BY SAYING AND DOING THE 
RIGHT THING AT THE RIGHT TIME. 

As you gain in experience you will learn just when 
the customer is ready to buy. That is when you should 


37 


close the sales talk and confidently suggest that he put 
his name on the dotted line or ask for the order. To 
talk further endangers the sale. He may lose interest 
or become irritated. You might also say something that 
would cause him to give you a stern “NO.” Get him to 
the swimming hole of decision and then gently remove 
his objections by statements and suggestions that give 
him confidence in you and your firm and your goods, 
that make him believe “the water’s fine.” Then he will 
get into the swim himself, and give you the order. 

Many men would make excellent salesmen if they 
could just know when and how to close. The lessons in 
this course will enable you to develop your ability to prop¬ 
erly close a sale, although this is the hardest single point 
in Salesmanship. 

BALANCE BETWEEN THEORY AND PRACTICE 

Many a young farm lad has left for college to study 
book-agriculture and upon returning to his father’s farm 
has made as much profit from twenty acres of land, inten¬ 
sively and scientifically cultivated, as his father did from 
from the rest of a half-section. 

Salesmanship is based on common sense applied to 
selling. It teaches the salesman how to more intensively 
and scientifically cultivate his field of activity. It does 
not take a man out of his present line. It teaches him, 
to be sure, to grow, and there is always the chance that 
he will outgrow his present occupation. 

When theoretical principles and practical experience do 
not fit like hands in gloves, either the judgment to the person 
who evolved the theories is wrong or the experiences are 
faulty, one-sided, unusual, and not likely to occur to others. 

Results will come in Salesmanship, as in other things, 
from study and experience. Study without experience 
makes a theorist in selling, and experience without study 
makes a haphazard salesman. Combined they make 
the science and art of Salesmanship. 


38 


STUDY TO SELL BETTER 

Investigation has brought forth so many recognized 
and accepted principles of Salesmanship that you can 
begin to succeed better in this profession from the first 
day you study and practice the principles herein outlined. 
If theory alone were responsible for the subjects worked 
out in these lessons, the principles would be of doubtful 
value. However, when each principle has been tested 
in the battle of selling, it is evident that a principle once 
established is a weapon which can be used to win orders. 

Do not guess. Think. Talk—to sell. Use argu¬ 
ments that will sell a product quickly. Think over the 
arguments you select. Work over your ideas and plans. 
Put them to the acid test of actual selling. Improve 
your methods. In time you will have a sales talk that 
will produce results in increased sales and larger sales, 
with less time and energy expended by you and your firm. 

Your creative ability is not limited in Salesmanship. 
Do not limit it yourself. Go out to win. Make a profit. 
Deliver service. 

EFFICIENCY VS. GUESSWORK 

You can make a sale in a number of ways, and you 
may wonder why we insist there is only one best way. 
It is the constant endeavor on the part of the efficient 
salesman to improve even his good methods that has 
brought Salesmanship to its present development. The 
final aim and result of the science of Salesmanship is to 
find the one best way of performing each part of a Sales¬ 
man’s work. 

Suppose a salesman is selling a check-protector for 
$7.50, and he has a rambling sales-talk that takes him 
an hour. Check-protectors are a necessity for every 
man who owns a check-book, but as yet they are bought 
by business and professional men who carry reasonably 
large checking accounts. No business man wants to give 
an hour to a demonstration on a $7.50 article. The 


39 


salesman should consider himself lucky if he can get 
a busy man to give him five or ten minutes for a demon¬ 
stration. He is going to get harsh treatment in the first 
office he comes to if he does not cut down his sales talk, 
and say something in each word and do something each 
second of his stay. 

Another element that enters here is that the profit 
on a $7.50 article might be so small that ten or more 
sales would have to be made in one day. This would 
also tend to make the sales talk short and to the point, 
as it would probably be necessary to make several calls 
before a sale was made; unless, of course, the salesman 
had direct leads, where a sale might result from practi¬ 
cally each call. 

“Any dub can give machines away” is a slogan of one 
of the most successful typewriter companies. A success¬ 
ful salesman must make a profit for the house as well as 
render a service to his customer. He will at the same time 
be alive to his own self-interest and get the salary or com¬ 
mission his service is worth and that his needs and self- 
respect demand. 

THE BETTER MAN HOLDS THE BETTER JOB 

Many a clerk in a retail store is egotistical and self- 
satisfied. He is so sure of himself that he does not believe 
the methods he uses can be improved. Yet he has only 
picked up a limited knowledge from his experience. He 
is not going to make a tremendous success in selling. He 
thinks his $12, $15, or $18 a week is good pay. He prides 
himself on how much he is earning and how much he 
knows, instead of thinking that he should earn more and 
that he would earn more if he knew more. He does not 
believe in study; if he does, he does not feel that he is 
capable of learning. He recognizes his master—the scien¬ 
tific salesman or efficient business man—and submits 
to authority because he fears if he loses his job he cannot 
secure another. 


40 


On the other hand, the salesman who has had train¬ 
ing and who has something tangible to show besides 
his physical ability to show goods, is never long out of a 
position, for if he loses one job, he soon gets another, and 
generally a better one. He is constantly climbing higher 
toward complete success. He is self-reliant, fearless, 
and always looking out for his employer; and the employer, 
knowing this, does not consider letting him go unless the 
firm changes hands, or the salesman outgrows his posi¬ 
tion. 

THE FINAL GOAL OF THE COURSE 

Your final goal in Salesmanship, and what these care¬ 
fully prepared lessons will teach you, is to sell the product 
or products you are best fitted to handle with the utmost 
satisfaction to the customer, and to do it easily and natural¬ 
ly without waste of time and energy, with a profit to your 
employer and to yourself. 


“A KNIGHT OF THE GRIP” 

Alert, he feels the Pulse of Trade, 

And tests its countless moods; 

A regnant Knight, by fate obeyed— 
The man who sells the goods. 

He knows each want, ere yet ’tis told; 

He laughs at storms and floods; 

An Optimist, he ne’er grows old— 

The man who sells the goods. 

His faith, supreme, leads up and on! 

He lives to do—to bless! 

His goal alone by worth is won, 

He is himself—Success. 


41 



APPLYING FOR A POSITION 

The Importance of Making a Favorable Impres¬ 
sion—Aggressiveness 

As a Salesman, you can and will do what others say you 
cannot do. It takes time to make good, but time and work 
are the investments you must make to win success. This 
Course will start you towards success. Even studying 
this first book will be a great Help and Inspiration to you. 
It will show you how to achieve success and will awaken 
in you the powers you possess. Take yourself in hand. 
Put obstacles behind you and fotget everything except 
that this science of Salesmanship will bring you success 
—a larger income, more congenial work, and happiness. 

Thousands of others have studi'efl Scientific Salesman¬ 
ship and you can succeed just as these others are succeed¬ 
ing. Success in Salesmanship results from knowledge 
of yourself, development of personality, knowledge of your 
goods, ability to read human nature, all of which are 
taken up fully in this Instruction Course. 

On applying for a position carefully follow the instruc¬ 
tions we give you. Whenever you choose from the lists 
of employers who have called on us for Salesmen firms 
that you wish to apply to, select, if possible, firms that 
have a line of goods with which you are familiar, or have 
had some experience with. However, thousands of men 
start out with lines they know absolutely nothing about 
and as they gain a knowledge of the goods, make a com¬ 
plete success. Then make up your mind thoroughly that 
you are going to get a position before you let up and make 
good after you do get it. My experience, in applying for a 
position, also that of thousands of other men, leads me to 
firmly believe that the foundation of the success of such an 
application depends almost entirely on one thing, and that is 
the “Will Power” to create the impression on the employer’s 
mind that he cannot do without you, then he will decide 
in your favor. No matter whether the application is 

42 


in the form of a personal interview, or a written statement, 
standing out in bold relief alongside the references, or 
experience you may have to offer, or any other influence 
you may bring to bear, I do not hesitate to say positively, 
from my long and varied experience, besides a great deal 
of personal observation on this subject, that the position so 
applied for, whether it be vacant or not, was in every case 
given to the applicant who made the best impression on the 
party or parties to whom the application was being made, 
regardless of any of the above conditions. 

As a rule, this impression is made unknowingly by the 
applicant. Nor is its influence recognized by the party to 
whom the application is being made, but in ninety cases out 
of every hundred, the effect is produced without the knowl¬ 
edge of the applicant and is felt and recognized unknow¬ 
ingly by the prospective employer. I once applied for a 
position, together with sixty-five experienced salesmen. 
I had had no former experience, but “I needed the money,” 
and so decided that I must have the position. Consequently 
I exerted all the force I could command in the form of two 
written applications before receiving a reply; the force and 
persistence displayed in the written applications finally 
secured for me a personal interview, which was a point 
gained, then by continuing to exert all my mental and 
physical strength to influence the employer in my favor, I 
was chosen in preference to any of the experienced sales¬ 
men and made a great success of the line. 

In many cases I will admit that the references, or the 
experience, or the applicant’s appearance, may be and is, 
largely responsible for the accomplishment of this result. 
In a majority of cases, however, the impression is made 
through a mental force entirely foreign to any of the above. 
It is generally admitted that the majority of such impres¬ 
sions are made unknowingly, and yet with entire success; 
so cannot you readily imagine how much better, stronger 
and surer it could be accomplished if the desire was a 
positively premeditated idea and was thrust home knowingly, 
fearlessly, scientifically, by the applicant, in fact entirely 
suited to the occasion? 


43 


Now then, to get down to actual result-getting informa¬ 
tion, I will say that the secret of the whole thing 

is this: to cause the employer to feel that your 

ability is required in his business, that you are just 
the man they want, need and must have, and that 

you can make good if the position is given you. 

Do not state that you have had no experience in their line 
in your application as it is not so much what you say, or 
how you say it, or how you look as long as you cause him 
to feel that you or* the man, and the best way to accomplish 
this is to feel that way yourself. It is possible for one to 
create within himself those forces which attract and con¬ 
vince others; by these means you create the impression 
that you are the one man for the place, and the other appli¬ 
cant or applicants that jvst simply want a position because 
there is, or is likely to be, one open, are consigned to the 
background. The best explanation that can be given in so 
many words about how this is accomplished is explained 
by the fact that regardless of different conditions and lines 
of business of any nature whatsoever, you can best gain 
your point by showing an energetic, aggressive interest in 
and intense enthusiasm regarding the proposition, and the 
stronger you can make it, the better. This sort of enthusi¬ 
asm is very catching and consequently is immediately felt. 
The impression is made and the position yours before you 
know it. 

We know of thousands of cases where positions were 
gained in this way, both from personal experience and 
observation. I very clearly remember one particular in¬ 
stance besides the one I referred to in the beginning of this 
article. In the winter of 1896 I noticed an advertise¬ 
ment in an evening paper, to the effect that four salesmen 
were wanted and for applicants to apply at the office of the 
company the following morning. I was there bright and 
early, only to find thirty other applicants ahead of me. Two- 
thirds of them were down-cast in appearance for fear their 
application would be rejected; but not so with me, as I 
had confidence in my ability to both obtain and hold the 
position. I managed to work my way up close to the '’oor, 

44 


and was the eighth man to enter the manager’s office. He 
told me he had two men engaged already, and inquired if 
I knew the Grocery trade in the city. I thought a moment 
and answered thac “I knew every grocery man in the city, 
and could sell more goods than any man in the crowd out- 
side.” My statement had the desired effect and I was 
engaged on the spot, and was later put in charge of the 
entire city business. 

On another occasion I had been corresponding with a 
Chicago firm that wanted a salesman in the territory 1 
was then in, but in order to close the deal, a personal inter¬ 
view would be necessary. I was undecided about taking 
the trip to Chicago, although I was satisfied that by so do¬ 
ing I could secure the position. I finally wired them to the 
effect that I was coming the next day and for them to hold 
the position open until I had seen them. I arrived in Chi¬ 
cago the next morning and immediately took a car for their 
place of business. 

When I arrived I inquired for the manager and was 
informed that he was closeted with another applicant for 
this same position. Afraid that I would not even get a 
chance to see him and put in my application, or get a chance 
to talk with him before he had engaged someone 
else, I walked boldly up to his office and rapped smartly on 
the door. The manager opened it and asked what he could 
do for me; I told him I had just come from Minneapolis 
and was in a great hurry and desired to see him on some 
very important business if he would step outside and give 
me a few seconds of his time. He stepped out and closed 
the door and as he did I grasped him firmly by the hand and 
introduced myself. I told him I was the party that he had 
been corresponding with in regard to the position he had 
open and had just arrived in Chicago, having come all the 
way from Minneapolis to obtain the position. As to my 
experience and acquaintance in the states where he wanted 
a man i informed him that I had sold goods there for ten 
years and knew every merchant, big and little, in the two 
states, and could sell more goods in his line than any man he 
could possibly secure in that territory. Also that his line 

45 


was just the one I wanted for that territory, although I 
could easily get several similar lines from other houses, but 
that I knew his line was the best and that I could do a large 
volume of business with it. He was so convinced by the 
bold way in which I had presented my case that the other 
applicant was dismissed and I was engaged then and there, 
with a guarantee of $300.00 a month advanced, out of which 
I was to pay my own expenses, with a settlement at the 
end of the year on a basis of 8 per cent of my total sales. 

By 4:00 o’clock I had my samples at the depot and my 
transportation bought, and at 4:30 was on my way to the 
first town in my territory. In neither of the cases I have 
cited would I have been the victor had I not been more 
aggressive and displayed more confidence in my ability to 
accomplish results than did the other applicants. 

At this late day, in consideration of my varied ex¬ 
perience, I am still firmly convinced that in nine cases out 
of ten, an impression made on the employer similar to the 
above instances will obtain for you the position, for the 
reason that the employer is simply carried away by your 
enthusiasm, and your positive and aggressive manner ap¬ 
peals to him, convincing him that you can handle his line 
or proposition successfully. Your energetic personality, 
being absorbed by himself, as it were, causes him to feel 
that you are just the man he wants, and must have. 

If you will adopt these principles and always use them 
you will be successful in the majority of cases. Have abso¬ 
lute confidence in yourself and impress your prospective 
employer with your earnestness and your application will 
have the desired effect. 


FORMS OF MAKING AN APPLICATION. 

There are various forms of applications used in applying 
for a position as a Salesman, circumstances largely govern¬ 
ing their use, such as the needs of the employer and the 
ability and general fitness of the applicant for the position in 
question. It is not necessary that you have an expert knowl¬ 
edge of any particular line of goods to begin with, in order 

46 



to successfully sell it. You can soon post yourself on the 
talking points of the goods themselves by asking the Sales 
manager to post you up on the line, and the rest will come 
to you naturally, as for instance, you are going out to sell 
Tea and Coffee; of course there are different kinds of tea 
and coffee, also different prices, but it will take you but a 
few minutes to find out what kinds your line consists of, 
prices, etc. Of course, a general knowledge of the line is 
valuable, and you may have worked in the business long 
enough to have a knowledge of the different grades, but 
if you have not, ask questions regarding them and also get 
a general knowledge of where they grow, how they are 
cured, packed, graded, etc. Then you are ready to go out 
and get the business. After you are once started, you will 
day by day acquire more information and pick up new talk¬ 
ing points in your line and in a short time you will have it 
completely mastered if you keep your eyes and ears open. 

We give you herewith a few forms of applications which 
can be so constructed that they will cover almost any cir¬ 
cumstances that will arise, but would advise that you do 
not copy the forms too closely when applying for a position 
but inject something original into them. Complete confi¬ 
dence in your ability to do whatever is to be done, clearness, 
conciseness and directness, together with intelligent meaning 
and enthusiasm, are the necessary perquisites that should be 
carefully interwoven into every application in such a way 
as to command attention. Of course, a personal interview, 
if possible, is always desirable, and let this idea predominate 
in your application. It is best not to state in your letter 
that you have had no experience .on the road , and do not 
make this statement unless they ask you. If you have 
never had any experience in selling goods it zuould not be 
advisable to say so, but simply say you are a salesman, but 
if you have had experience always tell what your knowledge 
of your line is and what experience you have had with it 

Always write your application in a clear, firm hand, see¬ 
ing that the spelling and grammar are correct. Do not make 
your letters too long; just give the important information 
necessary regarding yourself. 

47 


Form No. 1. 


No. 1829 Park Avenue, 

St. Louis, Mo., Feb. 1, 1917. 
Messers. S. M. Parker & Co., City. 

Gentlemen: Although I have no information as to wheth¬ 
er you intend to increase your selling force the com¬ 
ing season, or as to whether you will make any 
changes in your present forces, I take the liberty of writ¬ 
ing you to ask whether you will be able to use an energetic, 
capable, trustworthy and efficient salesman during the com¬ 
ing season. 

I have been desirous of associating myself with your line 
for some time past and believe that if granted an interview, 
I can demonstrate to you my business-getting ability. I am 
twenty-five years of age and have had three years of suc¬ 
cessful experience in selling Groceries for L. M. White & 
Co. of this city and I feel sure they will speak favorably of 
my business qualifications, ability, character, honesty, etc. 

I have a good general knowledge of your line, gained 
through my experience as city salesman with White & Co., 
also have completed a Course of Instruction in the Science 
of Salesmanship with the National Salesmen’s Training 
Association, Chicago, Ill., and refer you to them by permis¬ 
sion regarding my character, ability, etc. I am also well 
acquainted in this territory and know that it will pay you 
to take this matter up with me personally, as I am sure that 
I can produce results in this or any territory you should as¬ 
sign me, if you consider my application in a favorable 
light, now or later on. 

Thanking you for your attention and trusting you will 
favor me with an early and favorable reply, I am, 

Yours respectfully, 

SAMUEL P. MOORE. 
Form No. 2. Kansas aty> j une lst> 1917 . 

Messrs. Jones, Smith & Co., 

Chicago, Illinois. 

Gentlemen:—I have been informed that you are in need 
of a thorough, energetic, capable business-getting salesman, 
to cover Missouri and Kansas territory with your line of 
Clothing, the coming season. I am thirty years of age and 

48 


a single man, and I have a thorough knowledge of the 
clothing business, gained by three years’ experience as a 
retail salesman with R. B. Streeter & Co., of this city, who 
carry a very complete stock. I have been very successful 
as a retail salesman and have made it a point to always 
keep my eyes and ears open so as to learn all about the 
clothing business with a view to going on the road. I am 
confident of success if you should consider my application 
favorably. 

I can furnish you with first class references from my 
employers and others, as to my character and ability as a 
salesman. Also as to my integrity and honesty and I am 
sure that if you will grant me a personal interview, I can 
clearly demonstrate to you that I am just the man you want 
and one that will make good and get the business. I have 
also completed a Course of Instruction in the Science of 
Salesmanship, and refer you to the National Salesmen’s 
Training Association, Chicago, Ill., as to my character, 
ability, etc. I would be willing to begin at the bottom and 
work my way up and can easily convince you as to my 
claims for myself. 

Thanking you for your consideration and attention to 
this lengthy letter and trusting that I may receive a favor¬ 
able reply, I am, Yours very respectfully, 

1903 Adams St. S. M. LUTHER. 


Form No. 3. 

Omaha, Nebr., October 12, 1917. 

Thos. Lipton, 

Chicago, Illinois. 

Dear Sir:—I write you this to ask you whether you 
have an opening for a good salesman in this or adjoining 
territory. I am particularly well acquainted in Omaha and 
vicinity, and I am sure I can do a nice business with your 
line. 

I am twenty-eight years old and have been desirous for 
some time of obtaining a position on the road as a salesman 

49 


Sec. 1—3 



with your line, knowing it to be the best on the market. I feel 
sure if you will grant me a personal interview, I can satisfy 
you as to my business-getting ability, character, honesty, 
etc., and can also furnish you with first class references. If 
you are now, or soon will be, in need of a good man, please 
consider my application and give me a trial. I know I can 
make good and get the business for you in this, or any 
other territory you may assign me to, but would prefer 
Omaha territory. I am also a graduate of the National 
Salesmen’s Training Association, Chicago, Ill., and refer 
you to them by permission regarding my character, morals, 
etc. 

Thanking you for your kind attention and consideration 
and trusting I may be favored with an early and favorable 
reply, I am, Yours very respectfully, 

924 East 14th Street, JOHN G. MILLS. 

Omaha, Nebraska. 


Form No. 4. 

Wichita, Kansas, April 20, 1917. 
Messrs. Swofford Bros.’ Dry Goods-Co. 

Kansas City, Mo. 

Gentleman:—I write you this to ask whether you can 
make room on your sales force for a young man twenty- 
eight years of age, with first class references as to ability, 
honesty, character, etc. I am desirous of obtaining a posi¬ 
tion on the road as a Salesman, and being possessed of the 
natural qualifications of a salesman I know I can sell goods 
and make money for you if you will give me a chance. 

I am also well posted in the Science of Salesmanship, 
having taken a course of instruction from the National 
Salesman’s Training Association, and refer you to them 
by permission regarding my character, ability, etc.; can 
also furnish you with other first class references. I would 

50 



be willing to begin at the bottom and work my way up, 
feeling confident that I can do the business for you. If 
you have an opening now, or will have later on, I trust you 
will give my application your favorable consideration and 
would be pleased to have you look up my references. 

Thanking you for your favorable consideration and at¬ 
tention to this and trusting that I may receive a favorable 
reply, I remain, Yours very respectfully, 

D. W. EMMONS. 


INSTRUCTIONS ABOUT REFERENCES. 
Where to Get Them—What They Should Cover—Im¬ 
portance of Personal References. 

In applying for a position as a salesman, the man that 
can furnish first class references as to his character and 
general ability has gained more than one good point. 
Merely presenting your references or the name of the 
party, or parties, to whom you refer is not entirely sufficient 
to get the best results. We do not doubt that you, and 
in fact every one of our students, can furnish first class 
references upon request, but you should first arrange per¬ 
sonally with those to whom you refer about the details and 
information that may be necessary, so that they can clearly 
understand the object for which you wish the references 
to your prospective employer, so they will be able to cor¬ 
roborate the statements you intend to make if they are re¬ 
quested to do so. 

We have found that in a good many cases the references 
secured or given by an applicant for a position are too gen¬ 
eral in their nature to be very effective, and consequently 
their value for the purposes for which you require them 
is largely impaired. In requesting a friend, a business, or 
a professional man of your acquaintance to vouch for your 
character, honesty, ability, etc., as the case may be; first 
find out definitely and positively his knowledge of and posi¬ 
tion concerning yourself, for although he may be of high 
standing, unless he knows what he is talking about, his 
statements are likely to be of but little value. 

51 



A general reference does not have the weight, nor get 
the results of a personal reference, or communication; 
therefor, endeavor whenever it is possible to secure a direct 
letter to your prospective employer from the party to whom 
you wish to refer. If possible, secure some person or per¬ 
sons that know your prospective employer in a personal, or 
business way, to vouch for you, and you will find that in 
nine cases out of ten your point is carried and it is then 
up to you to demonstrate your ability and make the position 
both permanent and profitable. 

The trouble with a great many references is that they 
do not state anything definite. In many cases the party 
given as a reference is unable to answer the questions put 
up to him by the prospective employer, because the appli¬ 
cant has not made him acquainted with his purpose. 


CHOOSING A GOOD HOUSE TO WORK FOR. 

Determining Their Responsibility. 

This is a matter of great importance to the applicant 
for a position as a salesman and unless you are perfectly 
sure of the financial standing and responsibility of your 
prospective employers, it may save you a lot of time and 
trouble and possibly save you the necessity of looking for 
another position, to make careful inquiries regarding them. 
The writer, in his younger days, made a connection with an 
irresponsible manufacturing concern that caused him to 
lose over $2,000 in commissions through their raising the 
price of the proposition 30 per cent without notice, and so 
caused me to lose my commission on fifty-three contracts 
I had made for the proposition, as I had been foolish enough 
to take their word instead of having a written contract, or 
having investigated before making a connection with them. 
Therefore, it is a wise plan to “look before you leap” and 
be sure that you are not getting the worst of it. 

The responsibility of your firm can be determined in dif¬ 
ferent ways. Generally firms of long standing and estab¬ 
lished financial responsibility are rated in “Bradstreet’s 
and in Dun’s Commercial Agencies,” and also in the trade 

52 



reports. For instance, if you were offered a position by 
a firm located in some other city or town than your own 
and you knew nothing definitely regarding their responsi¬ 
bility, you can easily acquire all the information you need 
by referring to the reports of the commercial agencies. 
These reports are published in book form twice a year and 
contain a complete list of every firm, or wholesaler, or 
manufacturer, that is actively engaged in commercial busi¬ 
ness. 

These books are subscribed for in the large cities and 
towns by all such institutions as wholesale houses, banks 
etc. They are only accessible to subscribers, or their em¬ 
ployes, according to contract, in matters pertaining to the 
business of the subscriber. Should you happen to be ac¬ 
quainted, however, with anyone that is a subscriber to one 
of these agencies, or one of their employes, you can very 
easily secure the information you seek. Should you find 
that the firm with which you desire to associate yourself 
has no established commercial rating, the best thing you 
could do under the circumstances would be to correspond 
direct with some first class firm of your acquaintance, or a 
reliable bank in the same city in which the firm you wish 
to inquire about is located, relative to the business standing 
and responsibility of the firm in question. We furnish all 
such information to our graduates, free of charge when 
possible for us to obtain it. 

Always enclose return postage in any correspondence 
of this nature to outside banks or firms in order to insure 
a quick reply. 

SECURING A CONTRACT. 

Why You Should Get a Contract, or Agreement, and 
What it Should Cover. 

Securing a contract is one of the most important mat¬ 
ters with which you have to deal when you are associating 
yourself with a new firm. In a great many cases a con¬ 
tract may not be necessary, but you will find that it is not 
only a safeguard against the untimely loss of your position, 
but it also enables you to tell definitely, when changes should 

53 



be anticipated, so that you can act accordingly, and with¬ 
out loss to yourself. A contract also protects both the em¬ 
ployer and the employe, and is particularly desirable in the 
case of a salary and commission agreement, or a straight 
commission basis either, as in that case you know definitely 
what you are to get. As stated previously, the writer once 
lost $2,000 he had earned because he had failed to secure 
a written contract, stipulating the price the goods were to 
cost him and after the contracts were once made of course 
I could not raise my price. 

A contract is merely an agreement between two parties 
specifically stating what services are to be performed. The 
employer in a contract is known as the party of the first 
part, and the employe or salesman is known as the party of 
the second part. Every point should be plainly and clear¬ 
ly stated so that there will be no disagreement later on. 
The salesman should endeavor to live up to his part of the 
contract and unless some unforeseen circumstances arise, 
should not break it except under the terms of the contract 
itself. 

In making a contract with a new firm it is customary 
for the firm themselves to draw up the agreement which 
you are to sign. If you have previously satisfied yourself 
as to the business standing and responsibility of the firm, 
you can rest assured that its terms will be fair to you. It 
is advisable, however, in all cases to have a stipulation as 
to the length of time the agreement is to run, inasmuch as 
it would not be to your interest to have your services dis¬ 
pensed with during the dull season, or after all the other 
houses in your line had sent out their salesmen for the new 
season, as that might mean a delay of a season, or necessi¬ 
tate a change of line. 

Also see to it that all such matters as expense accounts, 
railroad fares, hotel bills, etc., are carefully covered and 
thoroughly understood. Also in the case that customers in 
your territory order goods direct, endeavor to have it spec¬ 
ified in your agreement that you are to receive the credit 
for all such orders. Remember that in drawing up a con¬ 
tract you are selling your time and ability as a salesman 

54 


and right then is your best time to give evidence of your 
ability to the effect that you are a Salesman. 

A contract should cover the duration of the term of ser¬ 
vice for which you engage, salary, or salary and commis¬ 
sion, expense accounts, territory you are to cover and credit 
for all mail orders as well as for your personal sales, with 
a clause to the effect that the contract can be canceled by 
either party by giving 30 days' notice. 

Credit for the mail orders or orders sent in direct to 
the house from customers in your territory is given to the 
Salesman in different ways. Some firms send a copy of the 
letter to the Salesman that they write to the customer ac¬ 
knowledging receipt of the order. This keeps the Salesman 
posted as to what goods have been sold to the customer; 
also what price or quotation, terms, etc., have been made 
to him. Other houses permit their Salesmen to have access 
to the books in order to ascertain just what mail orders have 
been received from their territory. 


SALARY VS. COMMISSIONS. 

How Determined—How Paid. 

The compensation of a Salesman is, of course, the most 
important item to be considered by him and is either based 
on a straight salary, or a salary and commission, or straight 
commission. There are a great many advocates of a straight 
salary, and as many others that favor a salary and commis¬ 
sion, or a straight commission. No one can expect to be 
paid more than they are worth, and as a salary is always 
based on a percentage of the profits on the goods sold, if a 
salesman’s salary exceeds this percentage for any great 
length of time, he cannot expect to very long continue to 
hold his position. Nearly any first class house, however, 
will give a salesman a chance to make good and get ac¬ 
quainted and work up a trade and will advance him expenses 
and a salary after he has had some actual experience and 
has demonstrated he can sell goods; the harder a man 
works, of course, the more profit he will make, when he 

55 



can very naturally expect a larger advance for salary and 
expenses. 

The writer has, in several different cases, worked on a 
salary and commission basis that netted him from three 
to ten times what he could have obtained for his services 
on a straight salary. He has also worked on a straight 
commission basis and paid his own expenses and has earned 
as high as $1,500 a month that way, and, personally, I am 
in favor of a commission basis for both the salesman and 
the employer. However, if the salesman gets his expenses 
advanced, it gives him confidence in his house, and with 
the extra commission in sight, after expenses are paid, he 
will naturally work so much the harder to increase his earn¬ 
ings, with the net result that at the end of the season his 
sales are very largely increased over what they would have 
been had he been working on a small salary. 

In view of this, one will naturally feel it advisable to 
work on a commission basis, as a certain amount must be 
sold anyhow, in any event, and of course, when that amount 
is exceeded the salesman gets the benefit of it; whereas, if 
he is working on a straight salary, the advantage, if there 
is any, is in favor of the house, and if the salesman don’t 
make good he loses his job. There are several very distinct 
advantages to be gained oy working on the commission 
basis; first, the house can afford to pay a larger percentage 
on the sales than they can when they experiment with poor 
salesmen on a salary basis; and, besides, you are your own 
boss and practically a partner in the business; however, if 
possible, try to get the house to advance expenses, as it in¬ 
spires confidence in one’s self, and shows that your em¬ 
ployer has confidence in you, in making you such a proposi¬ 
tion, and the result generally is that you exert all your ability 
to demonstrate that it has not been misplaced. After you 
have demonstrated your ability you will then have no trou¬ 
ble making salary contracts, although the best salesmen 
prefer to work on a commission basis. 

Personally speaking, from my own and others’ exper¬ 
ience, I will say that I firmly believe the best basis to work 
on is one of expenses advanced- on a commission basis- 

56 


It is the best plan for both the salesman and the employer, 
and I would advise every salesman when entering the em¬ 
ploy of a new firm, to request that this arrangement be 
made in the agreement. Knowing that you are guaranteed 
a certain amount gives you confidence in both yourself and 
your house, and the additional feature of receiving a com¬ 
mission on all sales over and above expenses is the incentive 
that spurs the salesman on to greater effort. He knows ex¬ 
actly what he is to receive in advance, and doubtless has 
formed plans of how and where he will dispose of that 
money; but what he receives in addition to that he cannot 
determine in advance; but it is appreciated and sought 
after by the salesman, and he will strive all the harder to 
earn the extra money, and, in my opinion, this arrange¬ 
ment is the best for the interests of both parties concerned. 
Many big firms, however, will not hire a man any other 
way than on a salary. 


STRAIGHT COMMISSION. 

Its Advantages. 

While there are many advocates of the straight salary 
basis of remuneration for salesmen, the writer has known, 
from personal observation, hundreds of cases of so-called 
salesmen that have failed utterly in different lines from 
lack of confidence in themselves, or on account of a bad 
week’s business that discouraged them and thinking: “Oh, 
well; I will get my salary anyhow; what do I care?” they 
do not put forth the efforts they should and the first thing 
they know, they are discharged; and while the straight sal¬ 
ary arrangement may be looked upon by some salesmen, 
also by some firms, as the best for them, it is not the most 
favorable proposition for either the house or the Salesman 
in the long run. The commission basis is the best for 
both parties concerned, but very few first-class houses ask 
a man to go out on this basis entirely after he has had some 
actual experience and has a record behind him; so, before 
entering into a contract, it is advisable to very carefully 
inquire into the merits of the proposition itself, also the 

57 



financial standing and the responsibility of the firm making 
you the offer. If you find everything to be O. K. it would 
be advisable for you to accept a position and get at least six 
months’ actual experience even though it be on a straight 
commission, when you can pose as an experienced man and 
get a better contract with expenses advanced and a 
salary as quick as you can show you can earn it. 

Many a Salesman has commenced as a green man on a 
commission basis (as the writer did), who is today able to 
earn anywhere from $2,000 up to $5,000, or $10,000 and 
even as high as $25,000 in a year. Naturally you cannot ex¬ 
pect to start at the top of the ladder, but if you do your 
part and hustle both for your employer’s interest and your 
own and do the square thing you cannot help but succeed 
in getting to the top. 


THE SCIENCE OF SALESMANSHIP. 

What It Is—Its Development, and Ever-Increasing 
Importance. 

It has been proven indisputably that Salesmanship, when¬ 
ever and wherever evidenced, either in selling or trading to 
the wholesaler, retailer or consumer, or in selling your 
time or labor to an employer, is in every sense a science. 
From the time men sold their homes, their wives and even 
their children, receiving in exchange considerations of a 
value to them apparently as great, or greater than what 
they gave in return, it has been the predominating point 
of each individual transaction, or the culmination of any 
deal of any nature whatsoever to gain for yourself either 
, the best of the bargain, or something which could be so 
utilized as to result in your gain later on, either through 
its use in a personal way or by its disposal at a profit. 

The Science of Salesmanship is a deep, interesting, 
and very intricate subject and covers a broad and ever in¬ 
creasing field; its principles being displayed in a crude 
though perfectly visible manner, even in the mind of a 
child of but a few years of age, whose first instinct is to 

58 



sell or trade anything of value it gets its hands on, such 
as toys, knives, etc. 

This is evidenced again more forcibly and more in rela¬ 
tion to commercial life when a person’s first position is se¬ 
cured. You have then consummated a deal; your employer 
has bartered for your labor and time, you are the seller; he 
is the buyer. The more that you familiarize yourself with 
sales and the Science of Salesmanship, the better you will 
understand the different and various problems that are to 
be met and contended with; the greater will be your knowl¬ 
edge of men and affairs of the world; then the less will be 
your hesitancy and the greater will be your confidence in 
yourself and your ability and value, not only to yourself but 
to those with whom you will be associated and those de¬ 
pendent upon you will be greatly increased. 

Make a study of human nature and closely study the 
character and habits of every man you do business with 
and you will soon increase your powers of discernment 
and perception. Make it a point to discover the cause 
and effect of every move and transaction, and success will 
come to you as you gain the actual experience. 

Get at the “whys” and “wherefores” of the successes 
and failures of other men. Figure out in advance as far 
as possible what you intend to do. By studying human 
nature and thinking quickly you will be surprised to see 
how fast you progress. Study the different types of men 
you meet; be careful how you “cross” or offend them, for 
the first impression counts very strongly with some men, 
and remember that courtesy is one of the best business as¬ 
sets you can have. 


THE APPLICATION OF SALESMANSHIP TO 
TRADE. 

The Underlying Principles—How They Operate. 

You can easily trace Salesmanship in its application to 
commercial trade very clearly and distinctly, from the time 

59 



you purchased a pound of butter, or a dozen eggs from 
your grocer, to business transactions and negotiations that 
involve thousands of dollars. From the time when per¬ 
haps as a clerk you sold a bill of groceries, or a suit of 
clothes, until the time when you are representing some 
large concern and making sales that aggregate thousands 
of dollars. Every sale of any nature whatsoever, whenever 
made or at whatever time, bears very distinctly on, and has 
its own individual influence on, commercial life and trade, 
thereby determining the destiny of a Nation, its people and 
the entire world, in fact. Buying and selling are the foun¬ 
dation rocks upon which all lines of business are constructed. 

In my personal experience in applying the Science of 
Salesmanship, I have been deeply impressed with the neces¬ 
sity of a complete and thorough knowledge of every point 
and factor that bears directly or indirectly, on the article, or 
articles to be sold. This knowledge can easily be acquired 
by making a close and careful study of your line, also the 
necessity of having a clear and concise manner of present¬ 
ing its merits and advantages, and a good judgment of the 
varying degrees of human nature; therefore, I always make 
it a point to find out all the talking points of the article, or 
articles to be sold as quickly as possible and then proceed 
to arrange this knowledge in a form that appeals to a ma¬ 
jority of those to whom I present it. We tell you how to 
get up a ‘Selling Talk” further on in the Course. 

I always make it a point to find out the name of the mer-' 
chant or buyer I am going to call on before approaching 
him. After I have found this out I approach him and 
grasp him firmly by the hand, looking him straight in the 
eye, and announce my business in a short, sharp, clear, 
business-like way and try to hold his attention until I have 
finished with him. I find that in this way I not only save 
a lot of valuable time, both to the merchant and myself, 
but the business-like way in which I go at it gets me the 
order in most cases; but of course no plan will work on all 
people alike, so I occasionally vary them to suit the party 
I am talking with. 


60 


Scientific salesmanship may be divided into three gen¬ 
eral divisions; viz., 

(1) The Approach. 

(2) Convincing the Prospect. 

(3) Closing the Deal. 

We find that the following five principles are neces¬ 
sary to the successful application of salesmanship; namely, 

1. To command the full attention of your prospective 
customer. 

2. To arouse his interest in your proposition. 

3. To cause him to desire it by— 

4. Being able to demonstrate its value as compared with 
the dollars it represents and with other similar lines and 
to be able to show the good points of your line so the buyer 
can see a good profit in the goods, or proposition. 

5. To cause him to sign the order after the value has 
been demonstrated. 

When you accomplish the first four, the last is easy. It 
is a question of properly directing the personal force which 
you possess. 

Now, as we have previously stated in the first lesson in 
this Course, that if you make the effort through your mental 
strength combined with your physical power to influence 
your man, that you will have a greater chance of obtaining 
the desired result than if you did not go at it with determi¬ 
nation and a strong will-power. Concentrate all your 
efforts on the one object in front of you; namely, that of 
convincing the other man to your way of thinking. In 
every sale that is made, in every transaction that is success¬ 
fully consummated, the five principles of Salesmanship 
given above operate either consciously or unconsciously, to 
the parties concerned. 

Always be sure that you command the full attention 
of your prospective customer because if you don’t have 
his entire attention and cannot get him to listen to you and 
to nothing else, while you are talking to him, you cannot 
make the desired impression upon him. After you have 
once gained his attention by having something to show him 

61 


or by introducing yourself in a terse, crisp, pleasant, busi¬ 
ness-like manner, you have succeeded in arousing his in¬ 
terest in you and then you can arouse his interest in your 
proposition. Next, by presenting your line in an attractive 
way you can bring the next three principles of the Science 
of Salesmanship into operation. 

Commercial Trade, calling for commercial activity, as 
its promoting power, calls for the successful application of 
the “Science of Salesmanship,” in every form and some¬ 
times in unlooked for places. 

The qualities needed are courtesy, tact, resource, facility 
of expression, energy, ambition, honesty (for permanent 
success), a firm and unshaken confidence in one’s line and 
in one’s self, and the ability to not only create the desired 
impressions, but to close business. Commercial trade con¬ 
stitutes both buying and selling, as without sales nothing 
can be bought. Therefore, I contend that Salesmanship is 
the foundation rock of our commercial life and existence. 

Many salesmen believe in what is known as the “Pre- 
Approach.” The pre-approach means merely getting facts 
and particulars regarding your customer before you intro¬ 
duce yourself to him. This subject will be further taken 
up in the lesson marked “Introductions.” 

The five principles mentioned above operate in every 
sale that is made, no matter whether it is a piece of goods 
you are selling or only an idea or proposition to “close” 
you must put into operation these principles in consecutive 
order, one after another. Of course, in no two sales are 
they ever worked out in just the same way. Three ele¬ 
ments enter into the way in which they are applied; the 
salesman, the goods and the prospect, therefore, one or 
another of these steps may be emphasized and the rest or 
some of the rest thrown into the background, as it were. 

The accompanying chart showing the elements of sales¬ 
manship gives you a simple sub-division of the principal 
essentials covering the subject. The different points under 
personality will be further developed later on in the Course. 

62 


General Chart Showing the Elements of Salesmanship. 


Of Goods Of Self Of House 


Knowledge 


Principal 
Essentials " 


Confic 


ence 


Selling Spirit 

Observation 

Initiative 

Imagination 

Originality 

Ambition 

_ Courage 

Personality Concentration 

Persistence 

Judgment 

Tact 

Resource 
Facility of 

Expression 


In Self In Goods In House In Methods 


GETTING READY FOR THE ROAD. 

Points to Be Looked After Before Starting Out. 

In your actual preparation for your first trip on the 
road, look to your line of samples the first thing you do 
and see to it that you thoroughly understand them in all 
respects, such as the prices, quality, style of packing, etc. Also 
see that they are properly packed, if you are to carry trunks; 
also see that you have the complete line. By packing your 
own samples, you will know when you get on the road just 
where to look for any article you want, without having to 
unpack the entire line. 

The next thing is to make out your route list of the 
towns and the trade you expect to call on, as far ahead as 
you can arrange them. This can be done in most cases by 
getting a Railroad Guide covering the territory you are 

63 










to make, which tells you all about the time of the trains 
and the connecting roads, where you have several different 
roads in your territory. These guides can be obtained by 
sending 25 cents to the Russell Railway Guide Company, 
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for their guide which covers the cen¬ 
tral states, or to the Knickerbocker Guide Co., No. 24, Park 
Place, New York, for their guide covering the eastern and 
southern states, or ordinary railroad time tables can be used. 
If your employers have had salesmen in the territory be¬ 
fore, they usually have a list of all the people you are to 
call on; but if not, you can easily get the names of all 
dealers in the line you carry from the pocket edition of the 
Commercial Reports for the state or states you are to cover; 
these reports also give you the ratings of the different deal¬ 
ers, and can be obtained by salesmen through their house. 
If necessary for a salesman to have one his house will us¬ 
ually supply him with a book covering his territory. i 

Always be sure in any event to obtain a list of those 
customers the house has been doing business with, as it 
gives you talking points which are better than approaching 
new trade entirely. Next, get your mileage books, or 
transportation, over the roads in your territory, order blanks, 
reports, expense books and a full supply of stationery, etc. 

Make up your mind at the very start that you are going 
out to sell goods, instead of on an excursion trip, and keep 
that in mind and work hard, and success is bound to come 
in time. Persistence often accomplishes more for a man 
than skill; the latter will come with practice. 

When you approach a prospective customer, do not do 
so with the feeling that you may sell him, or that you may 
not. Be positive and feel sure that you will sell him and 
then stick to him until you do. My experience 
'in a good many cases leads me to believe that neither 
“John Smith” nor any other buyer ever actually lets on that 
he wants to buy anything; in other words, they are always 
in an antagonistic state to the salesman; they want the sales¬ 
man to make them believe they need the goods, and that they 
can increase their sales and profits by buying your line, 
when, as a rule, they will buy very willingly if they are in 

64 


the market, but it takes in almost every case a convincing 
argument on the salesman’s part to make a sale. 

There is no avoiding the fact that a salesman presenting 
any line of goods, or a proposition of any nature whatso¬ 
ever, is in a positive condition, and the man to whom he 
is talking is in a negative condition and has to be con¬ 
vinced; therefore, if the salesman feels shaky, so does the 
customer and very naturally the arguments that have been 
presented lose their power and fail to convince and so the 
sale is lost. It is better, in case you feel shaky, to take a 
walk around the block and screw up your nerve a little. If. 
on the other hand, the salesman approaches the customer 
with that feeling of self-confidence in himself and a good 
argument in favor of his goods, the battle is half won, as 
the customer is properly impressed and with a convincing 
talk on your part he will buy. 

I have made a very close study of human nature and I 
find that in the largest majority of the cases, that if you 
have a scared or languid feeling, you will affect those 
with whom you come in contact in the same way, therefore, 
the Successful Salesman should endeavor by all means to 
preserve “a sound mind in a sound body” and always be 
feeling “tiptop.” By so doing, he is in perfect mental and 
physical condition and has that buoyant, magnetic feeling 
that impresses those with whom he is talking and carries 
everything before him. Generally a merchant will buy if he 
will listen, if you can show him quality and profits and 
convince him that the article will sell, for if he were not in 
the market he would not listen to you. 

It is also a very good idea, when approaching a pros¬ 
pective customer, particularly where you are not personally 
acquainted with him, to have something to show him, which 
gets his attention for the time being and gives you a chance 
to get in your talk; do not tell him that you want 
to sell him some goods, or that you would like to show him 
your line; he already knows that; tell him you have some¬ 
thing that you are going to shozv him, then he is obligated 
to at least look at whatever it is you may have. If you 
will take the trouble to have a sample or two of something 

65 


new, or that are real bargains, or out of the ordinary, you 
will get him interested and he will begin to ask questions 
in regard to your line. When you have reached this point 
you have captured two of the most important forts out of 
the five that it is necessary for you to capture in order to 
close the deal. Your battle is nearly half over, for if you 
can once get him to talk with you, then it is possible for 
you to sell him. The next thing to do is to cause him to de¬ 
sire the article or proposition, by showing him in your talk 
the profit in it for him and how easily the goods 
sell, etc., but after you get him to talking do not talk too 
much yourself, but try to cause him to ask as many questions 
as possible, and do not take issue with him on every little 
objection he may have, for if you do you furnish new ma¬ 
terial for further argument and get further away from 
your subject all the time. An argument is never advisable 
so refuse to argue, but rather converse in a pleasant way 
with your prospect and you will find it will be more 
profitable for you. If he don’t happen to like one 
thing, show him something else and the chances are that 
before you get through with him, you will sell him the very 
article or articles he didn’t like at first. 

I have personally made many sales in this way that in¬ 
cluded the very articles that were objected to at first. I 
always try, as do most successful salesmen, to get the cus¬ 
tomer started on some article that he wants, and I never 
try to argue him into buying some certain article when he 
is inclined toward something else, but after I get his order 
for what he wants, I always go back to the others and say: 
“Mr. Smith, you had better let me put in a dozen or so of 
this as you will find them to be good sellers, etc.,” and I 
generally succeed as I have flattered him by letting him 
have his own way. Of course, you will find some buyers 
that have to be crowded and that have no judgment of 
their own; in such cases you will have to do the selecting 
for them, and in many cases force them to buy. 

If your line consists of but one article or proposition, 
and an objection is raised, switch the conversation off on 
some other subject regarding it and lose sight of the point 

66 


objected to. In this way you can show him the points of 
advantage that will outweigh his objections and you will 
get his order. Always “be sure and carry an air of Success 
and Prosperity,” for “nothing succeeds like success,” and 
this air of prosperity and success will bring you many 
friends and customers. If you have disappointments, keep 
them to yourself: “laugh and the world laughs with you/ 
weep and you weep alone.” Keep a stiff upper lip and 
always remember that it is not always what you say, but 
how you say it, that does the work. As I have stated here¬ 
tofore, always be feeling and looking good, and when you 
are asked, “How are you?” or “How is business?” invar¬ 
iably answer, “Fine and dandy,” or some such cheerful 
phrase. The man to whom you must get so close as to take 
his order is bound to be influenced to a large extent by the 
way you feel, so keep him feeling good by feeling that 
way yourself. 

There are no certain rules that will cover all cases, but 
energy, tact, and enthusiasm are the essential qualifications 
for success, and when these qualifications are combined with 
systematic and persistent effort they guarantee success. 


INTRODUCTIONS. 

Getting Your Prospective Customers Attention. 

It is not always necessary to use a card for the purpose 
of an introduction to the trade, although they should always 
be carried, as you might find it advisable to use one on 
various occasions. 

Some houses furnish their Salesmen with business 
cards which are printed similar to their other printed 
matter and stationery. For instance, if a house has a well 
advertised line of goods with a special design or cut, or 
trade mark, on the labels, etc., if this is reproduced on the 
Salesman’s card, it helps to remind the merchant of the 
house. 

It is of course impossible to describe a definite form 
of words which a salesman could use in all cases when ap¬ 
proaching business men at the first interview. What would 

67 



be the proper thing to say to one man under given circum¬ 
stances might be unsuitable to say to another under different 
circumstances. The salesman must use discretion and his 
best judgment as to what his opening remarks will be, at the 
same time there are certain leading statements to be made 
which experience has shown to be well adapted to the end 
in view. 

My idea of the best way of approaching new trade is 
to first find out the buyer’s name before entering the store, 
if possible. You can get this information from the hotel 
man or one of the clerks in the store. It is advisable to 
make inquiries so you will be able to recognize him on sight, 
also as to how long he has been located, etc. Little points 
gathered by such inquiries will often aid one in gaining an 
interview and making a sale. 

On entering the store, approach the buyer in a confident 
manner and calling him by name, grasp him by the hand and 
say: “My name is Blank, representing so and so, New York, 
of whom you have doubtless heard, or have handled some 
of their goods; and I have a little proposition of interest 
to you and would like to speak with you for a few minutes.” 
I now hand him my card, where I am using one, and at 
the same time, while he is reading it, I get out whatever 
I have to show him in order to get him interested in my 
line, and as soon as he looks up from the card I begin 
to talk on the merits of the article, or articles, I am showing 
him, and always try to keep his attention by keeping the 
article I am showing constantly in front of his eyes, or 
on my line in general, and in this way I nearly always get 
through with my introductory talk before he has a chance 
to offer any objections. 

Always remember that first impressions are very pow¬ 
erful; the success of a salesman is largely dependent upon 
the manner in which he introduces himself to the buyer. 
The entrance of an awkward solicitor into the merchant’s 
store or office, jars upon his nerves, as a discord offends the 
ear of a musician. Every man, when meeting another, is 
aware of either a feeling of attraction or repulsion, either 
a friendliness or the reverse, without knowing why. The 

68 


“character of the man is the magnet*” the center of power, 
and it is possible for one to develop character by a sys¬ 
tematic and persistent effort. Always approach your man 
in a confident and cheerful manner and do not let him look 
you down or get you rattled. 

It is the little details that count most in life. First, remem¬ 
ber always that you are as good as any merchant on whom 
you call. That your company and your goods put you on 
a level with any merchant. Therefore, you can hold your 
head up high. And it is wonderful what this holding the 
head up will do in the way of increasing sales. Hold your 
head up! The rule to follow is this: 

Have your head directly over your shoulders, so 
that a plumb line hung from the ears describes the line of 
your body. Also be sure not to carry the head either to 
right or left, but vertical. Many men make the mistake, 
especially while waiting for a prospect to finish some im¬ 
portant piece of business, of moving the head from side to 
side. This indicates weakness. 

A study of men discloses the fact that strong men never 
tilt the head. Their heads sit perfectly straight on strong 
necks. Their shoulders, held easily yet firmly in correct 
position, are inspiring in their strength-indicating poise. 
The world admires nothing greater than a man who knows 
how to “carry” himself. He has the appearance of inde¬ 
pendence and fearlessness that compels attention. 

In approaching the buyers I do not always use the 
same introductory words, but vary them to suit the occasion 
and the man I am talking with, but the words used are 
always to the same effect. The introduction should be as 
brief as possible; always try to accomplish it in a business¬ 
like manner, and be pleasant and always look your custo¬ 
mer squarely in the eye. Be earnest and enthusiastic. A 
half-hearted manner never makes a favorable impression. 

We do not believe that it is a good idea to try to dis¬ 
guise what your business is and disapprove of obscure in¬ 
troductions and all tricks. We believe that a man who 
has something worth saying and is not ashamed of his bus¬ 
iness should make known his errand in a frank, straightfor¬ 
ward manner. 

oy 


Remember, the first five minutes of speaking to a mail 
is likely to make or break you as far as that sale is con¬ 
cerned. If you are in any way antagonistic or offensive 
to him, you have hurt your chances badly from the start, 
If you have failed to definitely please or attract him, you 
have not done enough. It isn’t sufficient to be merely a 
negative quantity. You should make a positive favorable 
impression but not by attempted wit nor cleverness. The 
only right way to gain a man’s liking is to deserve it. 

The cultivation of that quality of speech called “unc¬ 
tion,” which is characterized by a certain fervor , is worthy 
of your close attention. The power of the “Revivalist” in 
religious work is demonstrated on every hand. His lan¬ 
guage and manner are usually effectively persuasive. If 
you do not naturally possess persuasive powers develop them 
within yourself by a persistent effort. 

Do not let the buyer think he knows more about your 
line than you do yourself, but always be able to answer any 
question that should arise somehow. In this way you con¬ 
vince him that you understand your line and make a fav¬ 
orable impression on him. 

Be a good listener; a good conversationalist talks only 
part of the time. An argument is not conversation; if pos¬ 
sible. always avoid entering into one with a customer. In 
case a buyer shows a tendency to talk about some special 
happening or occurrence of the day, humor him, but drift 
back to business as soon as possible. 

Of course, when you are calling on a man that you 
know, or have sold goods to before, you do not need a 
card and your preliminary talk ; s also changed, but it is a 
good idea to always have a sample to show him so as to 
get his attention the easier. In this case treat your pros¬ 
pective customer as a friend and old acquaintance, and talk 
as such on any subject he seems desirous of discussing, then 
at the right moment get down to business and present your 
proposition. I do not have any use for the old time way 
used in approaching customers, such as: “I represent so 
and so and would like to show you our line”; or, “Is there 
any chance of our securing part of your business in such 


and such line?” or, “Would you like to buy so and so?” 
The principal factors for success are to see your man, get 
his attention by some originality, shake hands with him, 
arouse his interest in your goods or line by showing him 
something that will pay him a good profit, figure out for 
him how much he can make and show him how easy he can 
make it, and don’t ask him if he wishes to see your line, but 
show it to him. 

While your man is examining the sample or samples, or 
your catalogue, do your best to suggest something that will 
arouse his curiosity and cause him to ask questions, and 
then you have more than half closed the sale. It then be¬ 
comes simply a matter of ways and means and your ability 
to overcome his objections and convince him that he needs 
additions to his stock in your line and that your house is 
the one to furnish them. You have then created the desire 
for the goods in his mind, when all you have to do is to 
make this desire strong enough to cause him to want to 
possess the articles more than he does the money that they 
represent; don’t forget that the only reason he is buying 
is to make a profit, so make your talk on profits and quality 
strong and he will buy. 

Men are “bluffed” into beliefs. To “bluff” a man is to 
cause him to believe as you believe. It may be assumed 
that the buyer is constantly on the defensive and that the 
object of the salesman is to overcome his antagonism. When 
a salesman approaches a prospective customer, he should 
observe and determine, if possible, how he can draw his 
attention from the work on which he is at the time en¬ 
gaged, without bringing his own proposition too directly 
into the field of the previous work at which he had been 
engaged. Also approach him boldly and with perfect con¬ 
fidence in yourself and your line and be prepared to over¬ 
come any objections he has to offer. 

If you use tact and judgment in sizing up your man, 
and if your introductory talk has been impressive, your battle 
is more than half won, and all you have to do is to carry 
it to a close and never wait for the customer to tell you 
to send him so and so, but suggest that he sign or giveyou 

71 


the order, expecting to get it, and don’t take no for an an¬ 
swer when you can avoid it. 


PREPARING SAMPLES. 

How to Handle Them to Best Advantages. 

It is always advisable as far as possible to choose and 
pack your own samples, where you have a large line, then 
you are sure that all the different articles are of the 
finest quality and will bear the closest inspection and are 
not shopworn, dirty, or damaged articles, which would in¬ 
jure your sales if you should show them to a customer after 
you had started on your trip and could not obtain others. 
By packing them yourself, or superintending the work 
you will know just where each article is located in your 
trunk which will save you a lot of time and trouble when 
you go to look for them, and in some cases a customer may 
want to see only a part of your line, and of course if you 
know where the articles are located you can get at them 
quickly without disturbing the rest of your trunk; in this 
way you will save yourself a lot of time and trouble and at 
the same time you will know that your line is complete. 

In a business where you expect to make the territory 
often, never choose samples which are of better quality 
than the goods themselves, as by so doing you will not be 
able to get future orders; also by all means avoid misrep¬ 
resentation of your line; and do not “stuff orders,” which 
is a fault that a great many young salesmen have. By being 
strictly honest and upright you cannot help but succeed, 
whereas the other way, you may make a good showing 
temporarily, but it will work to your disadvantage later 
on. There are too many of the “one trip salesmen” as it is; 
such men can never go over the territory a second time and 
are soon “down and out” as the employers and merchants 
“get onto them” and their crooked methods. 

It is necessary that the goods the customer receives 
should be just as good and look just as well as the 
samples he ordered from. Where salesmen go out over a 
territory with “fake” samples, or that are better than the 

72 



goods that are shipped to fill the orders, the territory is 
'‘killed” for all future orders for that house. In most cases 
the house has a man pack the samples, and in that case, 
supervise the work yourself and you will have a better 
knowledge and understanding of your samples than you 
would have if you had looked at them for the first time after 
you had arrived at your first stop in your territory. 


DISPLAYING SAMPLES. 

Where and How—Leaders—Importance of Having Good 
Sample Rooms. 

Samples are, as a rule, displayed in one of two places; 
your customer’s store, or in a sample room at the hotel. 
If you have a large line, consisting of several trunks, 
or have more than one customer in a town, it is advisable 
to get a sample room where you can display the goods to 
advantage. Be sure in choosing a sample room to get 
one that is well lighted and also arrange your samples in 
such a way so that the prospective buyer can see at a 
glance all the different styles and grades of goods that you 
carry. Place your samples in such shape that your Specials 
or Leaders, are brought into prominence, and then down 
to those you think the buyer will be the least interested in, 
so that you can easily explain the merits and the advan¬ 
tages of the different articles. You should post yourself 
thoroughly on the prices and styles of packing of the dif¬ 
ferent articles comprising your line. As the first point to 
be gained in making a sale is to get your customer inter¬ 
ested in your line, you can very readily understand that by 
having your samples arranged as mentioned above, he will be 
able to see at the first glance just the articles that will ap¬ 
peal to him and that will hold his attention. 

Where you have a number of different samples which 
include various grades of the same article ranging in price 
from the lowest price to the highest, arrange your samples 
in a systematic manner; that is, all the different samples 
at one price in one lot and so on, so that when showing 

73 



them to customers, you can easily make a comparison of the 
different articles and at the same time you can readily give 
him the price when the proper time comes for it. Keep every¬ 
thing systematically arranged and when you are through 
with one sample or set of samples, put them out of the 
way so they will not interfere with the next lot you take up. 
By having some special bargain or leader, which the house 
gets out, displayed prominently in front of the customer 
until he becomes interested, you have then what is known 
as a “point of contact”; in other words you have a common 
ground on which to work, because you have aroused your 
prospect’s interest or your samples have aroused his in¬ 
terest. This acts as an entering wedge and by taking ad¬ 
vantage of this opportunity, you can go right through the 
entire line with him. 

After you onoe get him started on some of your lead¬ 
ers, or specials, and have succeeded in selling him, take up 
something else. After you have once commenced opera¬ 
tions it will be a great deal easier to make further sales, 
with the goods that are not quite so attractive to him. Never 
be satisfied, however, with simply selling him your leader, 
but after you have once got him started, go through your 
line thoroughly and sell him everything you can that is 
adapted to his trade. Avoid as far as possible overloading 
a customer, in case you have an inexperienced, or easy 
buyer, for if you do and the goods are left on his hands, he 
will lose confidence in you and your house; also avoid 
“stuffing orders” and misrepresentation of the goods. 

Entirely apart from the necessity of getting a sample 
room because you carry a large line of goods, there is an¬ 
other very important reason and that is, it is far easier to 
sell a man that comes to you than where you go to him. You 
have his undivided attention, and by having him alone in 
your room with the avowed intention of looking your line 
over, you are far nearer the consummation of a sale, much 
farther, in fact, than if you carried your samples to his 
store, as there you would run the possibility of his being 
busy, or of meeting rival salesmen. In the next place, if a 
man will leave his business and come to the sample room 

74 


to look over your line, he has more than half made up his 
mind to buy a bill of goods; then it remains with the 
salesman as to how large a sale he can make. 

While you are holding a sample room you can pack 
up a few leaders, or specials, in a grip, or take them under 
your arm to the stores of customers who are not able to 
come to your hotel, or do not care to. By this method I have 
started a good many customers and have sold them good 
Dills, where if I had not shown them the specials that inter¬ 
ested them and got them started, I probably would not 
have sold them at all. 

It is a good idea during the busy season to write ahead 
and engage your sample rooms, several days in advance. 
The general appearance of things goes a long way at times, 
and there has been many a good sale put through with 
goods that were well displayed, that never would have 
been made if the goods were sold strictly on their merits. 
Where your line of samples is small and can be carried in 
one or two grips, or a small trunk, of course, you do not 
need a sample room, as you can easily move from store to 
store. 


SPECIALTY SALESMANSHIP. 

Specialty Lines—How Handled. 

In selling specialties, which are usually new articles 
being put on the market for the first time, or some of the 
well-known staple advertised lines of goods, or a special 
article of merit from a regular line, the salesman sometimes 
has to use very original and ingenious methods to success¬ 
fully place the article or articles with a majority of the best 
stores in each town, after which the minority (those who 
always “have to be shown”) will buy because their competi¬ 
tors have the goods and they have calls for them; there is 
a class of merchants that are always behind the times and 
will not add an article to their stock until they have had a 
great number of inquiries for it. Such so-called merchants 
are not really merchants, but you will find them wherever 
you go. A small line of articles are usually classed as a 



specialty line, whether new to the trade or not; for instance, 
coffee, and tea, baking powder or a line of cereals. 

Usually these special lines, or articles, are heavily ad¬ 
vertised, and while advertising is an aid to the sale of the 
goods, all the advertising in the world would not sell them 
unless the merchant has the article on his shelves; then the 
name of an article that is prominently advertised will cause 
the people to ask for it when they see it there, if for no 
other reason than to satisfy their curiosity as to what it is, 
particularly if it is a new article. It is, therefore, up to 
the salesman; he is the man behind the gun, so to speak, 
who must place the goods on the shelves of the leading 
stores in each town, and as a specialty salesman usually 
does not cover a territory but once with the same line, he 
has got to make his showing while he is going over it, or 
never. 

Merchants, as a rule, object to buying an article for 
which they do not have calls, so it is rather a tough propo¬ 
sition until the salesman learns how to sell them in spite of 
the fact that there is no demand for the article, and in these 
lines is where a Salesman really is a Salesman. The writer 
has introduced many brands of goods with which every¬ 
body is familiar at the present time, but which nobody 
knew anything about in the beginning, and I will say that 
the most effective method I have ever discovered of over¬ 
coming the merchant’s objections, because he had no de¬ 
mand for the goods, is to first introduce myself as I would 
in a staple line and then present my proposition in as strong 
a light as possible, explaining all the good qualities of the 
goods and telling him that a majority of the merchants in 
the surrounding towns all handle the goods and have a 
nice sale on them, and if possible show him signed orders 
from other merchants, and if that don’t work, I find out 
just what his objection is and then proceed to overcome it 
by explaining good points that overcome the possible bad 
Dnes he has picked out. In answer to the old complaint 
£hat there is no demand for the goods, I ask him if he had 
waited until he had calls for every article that he now has 
on his shelves, before he bought it. He is forced to admit 

Vo 


he did not; then I tell him that all the live, up-to-date, suc¬ 
cessful merchants have become such by taking chances and 
handling up-to-date goods; that the people want a change 
once in a while; I then praise up his store, etc., and tell 
him that if the other good stores can sell the goods, he can 
also, and in fact that a clerk behind the counter can sell 
anything if he has any ability at all, but that in this case 
the advertising and the merits of the goods themselves sell 
them for him and that he takes no chances, as it is not a 
question of their selling, once they are on his shelves, but 
simply a question of how much he will sell and how soon 
he will re-order. 

Try to be as pleasant as possible, yet be firm and don’t 
let your opponent best you in an argument and you will 
nearly always sell him, because he admires your ability and 
you have convinced him that you are a Salesman . The 
above is an illustration of one of the supposedly hard and 
difficult cases, but there are many easy ones, and once you 
get started you will have no trouble in getting the orders. 
After you get an order from one of the leading dealers in 
each town, you can, of course, use that as a leverage to get 
the others with, as many of them will say, “Well, if Brown 
bought it, it must be all right.” It is simply a case of get¬ 
ting them started. I have always made it a point to never 
misrepresent goods of any description, and I find out all 
the talking points about them, and firmly believe in the goods 
myself before I try to sell them, with the result that I 
am nearly always successful, and so will you be if you will 
work along the same lines. 

Whether you sell Cigars, Groceries, Cash Registers, 
Adding Machines, Clothing, Scales, Safes, or what 
not,— save your man money. Figure out how you can do it. 
Then “SHOW” HIM. Having shown him you’ll sell him. 
Sure! 

In selling specialties always find out all the talking 
points of the article, or line, and arrange them in such a 
way that they make an effective argument and firmly make 
up your mind that you are going to sell and you will suc¬ 
ceed, no matter what your line may be, if it has merits. 

77 


Good Specialty Salesmen are exceedingly scarce and 
earn large incomes, as high as $250 to $1,000 a month, 
and the writer has frequently made on a commission basis 
from $500 to as high as $1,500 a month. “Always put your 
best foot forward and keep it there,” is the motto of the 
Successful Salesman in any line. 

TRANSPORTATION. 

How to Work Your Territory Economically. 

One of the chief items of expense in regard to traveling 
on the road is railroad fares, and the matter of getting 
to your territory and covering it with as little expense as 
possible is well worth your consideration, as you can make 
a saving of a good many dollars every trip you make in 
this way. Nearly all steam railroads in the central states 
now have on sale mileage books, good for one and two 
thousand miles, at 2 cents a mile, to be used within one 
year, but in many of the states the local fare is the same, 
and in that case you would not make any saving by buying 
a mileage book, only it is more convenient and saves you 
the time and trouble of buying local tickets. In some of 
the other states, however, the fare is 3 cents and in a few 
4 cents a mile if you pay local fares, but nearly all the 
roads in these states have these mileage books on sale; in 
some states the price of the mileage book is $50 for a 
2,000-mile book, with a rebate of $10 when the mileage is 
used, upon the presentation of the cover to the proper offi¬ 
cial of the railroad companies. Commercial Travelers in 
western Canadian Territory should apply for member¬ 
ship in the Northwestern Travelers Association, of Win¬ 
nipeg, Man. Those in eastern Canada should apply to 
the Commercial Travelers Association of Canada, at 
Toronto, Ont. Memberships allow the holder to travel 
over all roads in Canada for 2J cents a mile with 300 
pounds of baggage free. The membership costs $10 a 
year and in addition to the above, carries an accident 
policy. 

The Interurban, Electric lines are now getting to be a 
very important factor in the transportation problem, and as 
their rates are usually lower than the steam roads, you 
can save considerable by using them; as they also make 

78 



trips oftener than the steam roads do, you can also save 
considerable time as well in getting from town to town 
in your territory. These lines surround nearly all the 
large cities in the United States and form connecting links 
with all the smaller towns for a great many miles around. 
They are more convenient for getting from place to place 
quickly, also cleaner, more reliable and cheaper, the cost 
of transportation never being over 2 cents a mile and often 
less than that. 

During the summer there are very often excursion rates 
from one point to another which can be taken advantage 
of and a considerable saving made, also where there are 
steamboats in operation, the rate is only about one-half 
that of the steam roads, and this can be taken advantage 
of if you are not in a hurry to reach your destination. 
Always be careful when you are purchasing transportation 
from other than regular agents of the transportation com¬ 
panies and investigate so as to avoid any possibility of buy¬ 
ing fraudulent tickets. 


HOTELS AND RATES. 

Importance of Stopping at First-Class Hotels—Com¬ 
mercial Rates. 

The matter of Hotels and Rates is one of the most 
important to be considered by the Traveling Salesman. 
Always stop at a hotel where you would not hesitate to 
have your best customer call on you. Stopping at a first- 
class hotel adds considerable to the prestige of a salesman, 
particularly when he is on his first trip, so it is a good 
idea to be registered at a first-class one, as it is very 
likely that you will be asked where you are stopping, and 
also that some of your customers may call on you there. 

When you are not acquainted with the hotels over your 
territory, you can nearly always find out which is the best 
one in each town by asking the other Traveling Men you 

79 



will meet, that have made the territory, or in nearly every 
first-class hotel or Pullman car throughout the country 
you will find a Hotel Guide, that will give you the names 
and rates of the best ones in each town, or you can get 
a Hotel Guide by sending $3.00 to the Hotel Red Book, 
Grand Union Hotel, New York City. Some houses limit 
their salesmen to $2.00 a day for hotel expenses, and in 
that case stop at the best you can find for that price. You 
are judged very largely at first acquaintance by your ap¬ 
pearance and the place where you are stopping; while 
it is not necessary to always stop at the best hotel in a 
town, it usually pays to be registered at one of the best 
ones. It is a good idea to have a railway and hotel guide, 
as it will assist you in making out your route list and in 
having your mail properly directed, so you will be sure to 
receive it. 

In case you should register at a hotel that doesn’t suit 
you it is a very easy matter to make a change. If you 
expect to be in town two or three days, or more, ask the 
clerk for rates, telling him that you expect to be there 
for some time, etc. As many of the hotels cater to the 
“Commercial Trade,” you will likely get a special rate, so 
tell them that you expect to make the town at regular in¬ 
tervals and want a good room. Usually the $2.00 a day 
houses do not cut their rates unless you stay a week, but 
nearly all the higher priced houses make a “Commercial 
Rate” of $2.00 a day for a stay of two or three days. 

If you expect to make a long stop in a town and have 
a large line of baggage, always write ahead several days 
and engage your room and sample room, which usually 
costs $1.00 per day extra, although some hotels make no 
extra charge for this service, particularly during the busy 
season; tell them what day you will arrive and your quarters 
will be waiting for you, and in this way you are sure not to 
be delayed in waiting for a sample room, and will also 
get better quarters for yourself than you would be likely to 
otherwise. Do not be the least bit backward about asking 
for what you want, either, as there is very little given that 
is not asked for. Once you have an established trade in a 

80 


town, stop in the locality, or as near as possible to your 
customer’s stores, providing you can get first-class ac¬ 
commodations for yourself and your goods. 


LIVERY, DRAY AGE, BUS, ETC. 

When to Use Livery. 

When it is necessary for you to use livery teams to make 
time in getting to the smaller towns, or to the towns that 
are not on the railroad, where you have no established 
trade, always ask for commercial rates, as in that way you 
can save considerable; also try to get some other salesman 
to “double up” with you and make the same trip, as it 
will cut the bill in half. Once you get an established trade 
in the smaller towns (where you carry heavy baggage), you 
can usually get your customers to come in and look over 
your line at some of the larger county seat towns, by writ¬ 
ing them a few days ahead and telling them when you will 
be there. If they do not have to come too far you can 
well afford to pay their hotel bills while they are buying, 
as that would be cheaper than you could go to see them. 
Of course, this only applies to lines where the salesman 
carries heavy trunks of samples and cannot move them 
around very handily; in all other lines, where you have 
nothing but grips to take with you, you can make two 
or three and sometimes more of the smaller towns in a 
day, either working off the freight and passenger trains or 
by driving or both ways. By looking up some other sales¬ 
man to make your drives with you, you can of course re¬ 
duce the expense one-half, and in many cases it is no 
trouble at all to find a man that will double with you. 

Where you carry sample trunks they will have to be 
hauled back and forth from the depots to the hotels and vice 
versa, the usual charge for this service is 25 cents for each 
trunk for the round trip, and if the drayman attempts to 
charge you more, object very erqphatically and he will usual- 

81 



fy come down. Sometimes, however, in the larger cities, you 
may have to pay 50 cents each. 

You will also have to use Excess Baggage Coupon 
Books in the United States where you have over 150 pounds 
of baggage; you can get these books at many railroad sta¬ 
tions; they contain $12.50 in coupons, for which you pay 
$10, and when you check your trunk from one town to an¬ 
other the baggage agent will tear out enough coupons to 
cover the excess at the rate of % of the price of the ticket 
to your next stop, for each one hundred pounds of 
baggage or fraction thereof, in excess of the 150 pounds 
you are allowed to carry free. This Excess Baggage 
Coupon Book you should buy when you leave the house 
and afterwards as you need them, charging them up as 
one item in your expense account, and sending in the 
covers as vouchers when you have used the coupons. Some 
roads charge % of the price of the railroad ticket for every 
hundreds pounds of excess baggage instead of selling a 
coupon book. For instance, the cost of the ticket is $5.00— 
% would be 83% cents. If you had 200 pounds of excess 
baggage, it would amount to $1.67. Bus fare from the de¬ 
pots to the hotels is generally 25 cents for the round trip. 

Salesmen do not have to carry as much excess baggage 
as they did a few years ago, as merchants find in some 
lines that a catalog or book showing illustrations of the 
articles will do just as well. It used to be the custom 
for clothing manufacturers and wholesale dry goods houses 
to start their salesmen out with several big, heavy trunks, 
the handling of which caused a great deal of delay and in¬ 
convenience. Nowadays, when a clothing salesman, for 
instance, goes out over his territory, you will find that 
the amount of baggage he is required to look after is re¬ 
duced to a minimum, and the samples of goods are shown 
by “swatches,” which are pieces of the various patterns and 
qualities of cloth (which go into the suits) pasted on 
cards, and he only carries a few sample garments to show 
style, workmanship, etc. 


82 


THE SALESMAN AND PRICES. 

Why He Should Maintain Prices—Quality. 

In a good many cases you will find that the customers will 
claim the prices of your goods are too high. This argu¬ 
ment comes up quite frequently, and especially after all 
other objections have been overcome, and of course is done 
for the purpose of getting the salesman to cut the prices, 
which would mean so much more profit to the retailer and 
so much loss to your house; you have got to make your 
house a profit on the goods you sell for them or they can¬ 
not long afford to keep you on the road. If your customer 
makes such a statement, tell him that your prices are as low, 
commensurate with the quality of your goods, as that of any 
other house, and lower in a good many cases. If he still 
claims he can buy the same goods cheaper, tell him they 
are a cheaper grade of goods and that yours is the lowest 
possible price on such a quality, as your goods are manufact¬ 
ured at the minimum of cost and sold at the minimum of 
profit, and, furthermore, that your goods will sell far easier 
and give better satisfaction than those he has in mind. 
Never cut your price, nor your commission, or profit on 
the goods; remember that a “wooden man” can sell goods 
if he uses price cutting as his lever. 

Sell your line strictly on its merits and when you have 
any special deals, use them as your trump card to get 
a customer started to buying. When it is a case of price 
cutting that stands between you and your getting the 
order, convince your customer that your prices are right 
and that your goods are fully worth it, or lose the order. 
By being firm in this respect will mean future orders for 
you, as this argument is always tried on a new salesman by 
the buyers to see how far they can go with him. 

A salesman was recently showing a line of shipping 
tags to a merchant, and to each one of the samples the mer¬ 
chant would say: “I can buy as good a quality as that 
cheaper somewhere else.” The salesman finally was forced 
to go at him in this way. He said: “Mr. Blank, if you are 
such a good buyer and can get your supplies at such low 

83 


prices, you certainly ought not to be running a small place 
of the dimensions you own now. Furthermore, I should 
think a man with your wonderful business ability would 
be manager for some million-dollar corporation at a $10,000 
a year salary. Now, I maintain that comparing quality, 
my goods are worth as much or more than any other similar 
line on the market.” 

Of course this was rather strong talk to put up to the 
merchant, but the salesman was forced to call his bluff. 
The salesman, knowing his business and being familiar 
with his competitor’s goods, was well posted in every 
respect; therefore knew that the merchant did not know 
what he was talking about. Of course, we do not advise 
such tactics as this to be used at all times, but at the 
same time, the salesman must show that he knows all 
about his goods and be able to answer any objections that 
might be raised in the matter of high prices. 

It must be remembered always that is is not the price 
of an article which is important, but the reason for the price. 
This is one of the backbone truths in merchandising, and 
when once a seller gets a firm hold on this fact, and is 
able to apply it in its highest efficiency, he will win out 
in the selling game. 

A salesman once took out a line of Cocoa—a well 
known, advertised brand—but in calling on the grocery 
and jobbing trade, he found that he could not sell his goods 
as readily as he expected. It appears that his goods were 
six cents a pound more than his competitors. Back to the 
salesmanager he went stating that the price was a 
“sticker.” The salesmanager said, “Yes, I know our price 
is higher, and from your standpoint, it ought not to be 
more than our competitors.’ But, did you stop to think 
that there must be a reason for this higher price we ask?” 
The salesmanager then pointed out the superiority of his 
article over the cheaper competitor’s cocoa, and the sales¬ 
man then had no trouble selling his line, because he could 
explain the reason for it, and demonstrate why it was 
worth more. 

You have a fixed price for the articles you sell. Re- 
84 


jolve when you enter a man’s place of business, that you 
will name that price when the proper point in the sales 
talk comes and that you will stick to it. Do not argue the 
matter, and always let him understand, that the price is the 
one point you cannot debate. 

Show him where the goods possess quality, and the 
prompt service you can give him in the way of delivery, 
but make him feel that the price of the goods is something 
that you cannot alter under any circumstances. Make him 
understand that you have no authority to do it. 


PRESENTING YOUR LINE. 

Make a "Hit” With It—How to Display Your Samples 
or Goods to Best Advantage. 

When you are presenting your line for the first time, 
try in every way possible to make a “hit” with it. That is 
do not be satisfied with just merely getting an order for a 
few articles, but try as hard as you can to get into the 
good graces of the merchant or buyer. This not only 
means a larger order at the time, but future orders also. 
There are any number of ways that can be used, but the prin¬ 
cipal thing is to make the effort, for if you do not make 
any effort to please the buyer as well as to sell him, you 
will never get into his good graces. 

The more friends you make the greater will be your 
success as a salesman. Some persons may have an idea 
that entertainment goes a long way toward accomplishing 
this end, and so it does in some cases, but that method 
takes both time and money and, furthermore, it does not 
always work successfully. Salesmen of today do far less 
entertaining than was the custom several years ago. I 
do not say that it is entirely wrong, or that it is not 
necessary in some cases, but it is not done to the extent 
it was in former years; in fact, most of the houses nowa¬ 
days object very strenuously to buying a dealer’s trade. 

There are further particulars regarding entertainment 
in the next section of this course. An occasional dinner 
or cigar, or a theater ticket is not objected to by any 

85 



first-class house when necessary, or advisable, and little 
attentions of this kind will often make the buyer your 
friend, when he is more liable to stretch a point in favor of 
your goods in competition with other salesmen. As an 
illustration I will cite a little incident that happened to the 
writer a number of years ago. 

There was a certain large Department Store in a West¬ 
ern city that I had called on, on two different occasions, 
without getting an order, as the proprietor was prejudiced 
in favor of a Chicago house, which was the leading one 
in that line in the country, while my house and line was 
small compared to it. I happened into the store one Satur^ 
day evening and was talking with the buyer in my line, 
who was a friend of mine, but he had very frankly told me 
that he could not buy from me (although he wanted to), be¬ 
cause the proprietor wanted to patronize this other house. 
I told the buyer I was going fishing with the hotel man 
the next day, up the road a few miles, and asked him if 
he did not want to go along, as there was going to be an 
excursion. He said he would be only too glad to go 
with me, and while we were talking, Mr. W-, the pro¬ 

prietor, stepped up and asked what was going on; when 
I told him about our fishing party and asked him if he 
would like to join us, he immediately said “yes”; that his 
family was away from town and that he would be glad to 
get the chance for a little outing. He then asked me what 
my line was, and I told him that I had called on him twice 
before and tried to sell him, he laughed, and told me that 
they bought everything in that line from Chicago. I then 
told him about a few Specials I had with me in ladies’ 
hosiery and that I would like to have him look at them 
on Monday, and he promised to do so, although he said 
it would be useless for him to do so as he had “bought up” 
(had ordered) all he needed. 

Well, the result of the next day’s outing was that I 
made a friend of him, and on Monday, when I got him 
and his buyer up to the “sample room,” he thought I 
was such a good fellow that I sold him a nice bill of 
goods. 


86 


He later instructed his buyer to givt me all the busi¬ 
ness he could, as “I was a nice fellow,” and he didn’t 
like the salesman for the Chicago house. At the same 
time he knew that he had to pay my house a little more 
on lots of the goods than he could have bought them from 
the other house for. He afterwards proved to be one of 
my best customers, whereas the house I was with had 
never sold him a dollar’s worth of goods before I went with 
them. In fact, I increased their trade over the territory over 
200 per cent in two years. By keeping at it and hunting 
for ways and means, and being persistent, success will 
crown your efforts every time; treat the buyers nicely and 
continue to explain the fine points of your goods and your 
opportunity will come sooner or later, and when it does, 
be ready to improve it. 

The reason you should display your samples in a 
neat and attractive manner is the same as if you had a 
store and realized that a nice display attracts the eye. 
Merchants have discovered this important point, and you 
will note that a great deal of attention is given to win¬ 
dow displays by progressive merchants. 

For instance, if you had a line of fancy embroidered 
goods, shawls, laces, etc., and had a merchant looking them 
over in a sample room, you can realize how highly important 
it would be for you to have them arranged in a systematic 
order, so that you could easily put your finger on any sam¬ 
ple regarding which he might ask or which he might wish 
to see. As a rule, if a merchant is interested in some of the 
samples you show him, he will throw them to one side to 
be considered later. 

In case you are selling goods from a catalogue and were 
not sure just what quality of goods your prospective cus¬ 
tomer handled, it would be safer not to show him a cheaper 
line first, but to begin with the highest priced and best goods 
you have and work down to something that he could use. 
Of course, if you can “size up” his place and get a fair idea 
of what line of goods he handles you can begin showing 
him right at the start the line of goods which would in¬ 
terest him. 


87 


The way a Cigar Salesman usually works for example, 
is to walk into a dealer’s store and look over the cigars 
in his showcase very carefully. After a little experience 
he is familiar with most of the brands sold in the territory 
he is covering. Now, by noting what lines the merchant car¬ 
ries, and knowing their prices as compared with his own, 
he can begin at once to show him some of his own samples 
which are the same or nearly the same in quality and price 
as those the dealer has on hand, and by talking superior 
quality and workmanship and the popularity of the brands 
he can persuade a buyer to put his line in. 


SUGGESTIONS. 

Nature of Your Suggestions—Their Importance. 

The principal point to be gained in trying to convince 
a man that he should handle your goods, or proposition, is 
to show him in every way that is possible that he can make 
more money by buying your line than he can by handling 
others. Merchants are in business to make money, and 
the only reason that you can interest them in your goods 
or proposition, is due to the fact that they are after profits 
If you carry a line that they already have in stock, but are 
buying from some other house, talk quality to them if the 
goods they have are cheaper than yours. But if there is 
no difference in the goods themselves, talk price; show them 
in a logical manner how they can save money by using your 
line, inasmuch as they can better please their customers and 
increase their trade through the quality of your goods. It 
is a poor rule that will not work both ways and as you are 
; doing the talking, you really have the advantage over the 
Mother man and can convince him if you stick to him. 

After you have seen his line and demonstrated your own 
jto him, be ready to instantly meet and overcome every ob¬ 
jection he may bring up. Give him illustrations and by 
reasoning with him and being logical and positive, and at 
the same time courteous, you can bend him to your way 
of thinking. 

That is the whole battle, in fact, to cause the merchant to 
think as you do, in regard to any proposition that you may 

88 




have to offer him and which he has never before handled. 
Figure out your line of campaign and then go at him 
with the assumption that you are going to both make 
and save him money and you will win. I gave up try¬ 
ing to figure out just what words I was going to say a 
long time ago, but it is easy to figure out in a general 
way how your line or proposition can and will be of ad¬ 
vantage to him and increase his profits. 

Knowing this, use whatever language that you think 
the best, or that happens to come to your mind and that 
is adapted to the business. In this way you will not have 
to stop to think of words that you have forgotten, but 
the power of a “suggestion,” couched in good, strong, 
original language, is always effective. 

The expression, “The Power of Suggestion” has been 
commanding a great deal of attention and study in the 
business world in the past few years. A suggestion has 
the most value wh-en made at the right moment. If you 
have a particularly attractive line of goods and which 
you know will make a fine window display, or which 
the public has taken a great fancy to, make this sugges¬ 
tion to the merchant if you see that he is not becoming 
interested in your line in the regular way. It all de¬ 
pends on what your line is and the kind of a man you 
are dealing with as to what your suggestion would be. 

In showing a man where he can both make and save 
money by handling your goods, have some facts and 
figures handy so that at the right moment in your dem¬ 
onstration, you can put them down on paper and show 
him in black and white why he should buy your goods. 
This method has won thousands of sales. 

Here is a good suggestion for any salesman. 

Make a note each day (on a convenient tab that can 
bfe easily referred to) of all the profitable articles that 
you desire to sell that day, and never let a single op¬ 
portunity pass of suggesting these articles to your cus¬ 
tomer. It is a fine habit to cultivate. 

Wonderful is the power of suggestion—acting on a 
good suggestion and making others act. 

89 


Suggesting and selling the goods that boosts the av¬ 
erage profit of your buyer and employer. The doing 
what we should each day instead of doing only what 
we MUST, remembering always that our value, like 
charity, begins at home, and that our value consists in 
our useful service each day to all concerned in our trans¬ 
actions, always leaving your customer so that both will 
realize the meeting has been profitable. 

The wholesalers and retailers usually have to sell so 
many articles that don’t pay, that they must keep con¬ 
stantly in mind the articles that do pay in order to suc¬ 
ceed. It is for the wholesale desman to suggest these 
articles to the retailers, so that the retailer will suggest 
them to his customers by proper display, etc. 

The order-taker is one who is led by the buyer. The 
salesman is one who leads the buyer. The salesman al¬ 
ways presents his goods to the buyer in such a way that he 
realizes all the good points and advantages to be obtained 
in buying them. 

The buyer is the judge who decides the case after 
the evidence is in. The salesman will never throw a 
wet blanket on his enthusiasm by thinking that anyone 
can sell the goods better than he, nor by feeling that the 
buyer does net want his product or could not sell it if 
he bought it, These are negative qualities. A salesman 
to be successful must cultivate the positive qualities of 
confidence and self-reliance—a knowing that the buyer 
will think as well of his merchandise as he does. 

The salesman should have a keen sense of values, 
and know where his goods can be placed to the best 
advantage. There is a place for all merchandise. It is 
the salesman’s business to find the right place. The 
salesman should keep in mind the fact that he helps 
himself by helping others; that his best interests are 
served only when his employers and customers are bene¬ 
fited. 

It is not the order that comes easy that helps; the 
orders that seem to come hard are the ones that develop 
the salesman. It is a plesure for a salesman to comoel 

90 


a buyer to his advantage. The reward is in knowing 
that he has done good work. 


DISPLAYING GOODS. 

Why a Merchant Must Display Goods to Be Up-to-Date. 

If a Merchant is handling your goods, make a special 
effort to get him to display them, so they will get all the 
publicity that is possible, as, of course, that helps very 
largely to sell them. Furnish him with any advertising mat¬ 
ter you may have, or what is better, put it up yourself, when 
you can, where it will be seen and do the most good, in 
points of advantage in his store. You can easily under¬ 
stand that if you sell a merchant a bill of goods and he 
puts them down in the cellar until they are called for, it 
would be a long time before he would need any more; on 
the other hand, if he will display them and place cards 
around in the store, or in his windows, calling attention to 
the merits of the goods, and instruct clerks to “push them,” 
he will not only sell them quicker, but will create a demand 
for them which means future orders. 

The public as a rule is very friendly to display adver¬ 
tising, and feels obligated to ask for the goods that are 
heavily advertised, and in almost every case a customer will 
ask about an article that is advertised when they see it on 
the merchants shelves, so do not fail to give special atten¬ 
tion to this feature of the disposal of your line of goods, 
and tell the merchant to tell his clerks to recommend the 
goods often, after which the merits of the goods themselves, 
together with the advertising, will do the rest and bring 
them back for more of the goods. 

In working up a trade in a new territory, first know 
your line thoroughly, and be able to talk it intelligently and 
enthusiastically. In order to hold the trade, once you have 
gained it, you must make friends of the Merchants and 
Buyers themselves; give them good service and see to it 
that all their grievances are promptly and satisfactorily at¬ 
tended to, also that your firm gives them courteous treat¬ 
ment. 


91 



SELF-QUIZ OR SELF-ANALYSIS PER¬ 
SONAL EFFICIENCY TESTS 

OPPORTUNITIES IN SALESMANSHIP 

Do I look upon Salesmanship as an opportunity 
to render a real service to mankind? 

Do I know that the demand for competent Sales¬ 
men far exceeds the supply and that the better 
my preparation the greater will be my opportunities? 

Do I realize that advancement comes through 
self-development and that Salesmanship gives 
unlimited opportunity for education and develop¬ 
ment? 

Am I determined to make the most of my oppor¬ 
tunities in selling—to develop my ability—to tackle 
the biggest problems that it offers? 

Do I have the “I Will” spirit that will push me 
to the front and enable me to make good and win 
out on my merit? 

HOW TO STUDY 

Have I made my plans to study regularly and 
systematically'—to master every lesson of this 
Course? 

Do I concentrate on one point at the time and 
think about it until the idea becomes a part of my 
daily practice? 

Am I willing to sacrifice time and pleasure in 
order to win success? 

Do I take advantage of every opportunity to study, 
at home, on the cars, during lunch hour or while 
waiting for others? 

Am I taking care of my body so I can think bet¬ 
ter, learn faster, have more ambition and make 
surer of my success? Am I always ready to learn, 
regardless of how much I think I know? 


92 


SALESMANSHIP 

Do I take an honest pride in the profession of 
Salesmanship and am I determined to be an honor 
to it rather than being honored by it? 

Do I look upon competition and other obstacles 
as an opportunity to develop my selling ability? 

In selling goods do I study the needs of customers 
to see how many wants I am able to supply? 

Do I look upon Salesmanship as a means of 
advancing civilization and of raising people’s stand¬ 
ards of living? 

Have I decided to make knowledge and action 
the basis of selling and not to trust to luck or guess 
work? 

Do 1 realize that the Salesman who profits by the 
experience of others has the advantage over those 
Salesmen who depend upon their own experience 
alone? 

Am I convinced that service and satisfaction to 
the customer are the foundation of permanent suc¬ 
cess in selling? 

Am I a progressive Salesman, ready to take on 
new ideas and methods that will improve my effi¬ 
ciency? 

Am I working to be an original, creative Sales¬ 
man and not merely an order taker? 

Have I set my goal to reach the highest position 
that my line can offer and am I willing to study 
and work to reach that goal? 

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE 

Do I believe in my ability to make good in selling? 

Am I taking advantage of every opportunity to 
improve my education and develop the powers 
which I possess? 

Am I storing my mind with facts which I can 
use to improve the quantity and quality of my work? 


93 


Am I determined to test out and apply what 1 learn 
and convert good theory into useful practice? 

Have I decided on the class of goods that I believe 1 
can sell most successfully? 

Do I realize that education for Salesmanship fits me for 
success in any line where 1 am obliged to meet and handle 
people? 

Do 1 put solid thinking into my reading and stay with 
each point till 1 have mastered it? 

Am I developing my body, mind and will to fill the 
higher positions that lie before me? 

Do I study the things about me, read good books, at¬ 
tend lectures, learn from others and keep my mind sup¬ 
plied with the kind of knowledge that generates power? 

Am 1 determined to master the contents of this Course 
so I can apply it effectively in my work of selling? 

PERSONALITY 

Am I developing a strong, positive personality that 
will enable me to control my own weaknesses and over¬ 
come the negative states in the customer? 

Have I made up my mind, whatever else I do, to live 
right and be a credit to my firm, my family, my friends 
and myself? 

Do I have that kind of optimism that radiates good 
cheer and inspires those about me with renewed friend¬ 
ship and courage? 

Do my thoughts, feelings and actions urge me forward 
to the goal of success in selling? 

Have 1 developed the work habit that will enable me to 
stick to it and produce results when genius itself seems 
to fail? 

Have I the courage that fears nothing, the determina¬ 
tion that accepts no failure, the self-confidence and en¬ 
thusiasm that spur me on and the conquering spirit that 
never dies? 

Am 1 cultivating those qualities of body and mind that 
will keep me at the top and enable me to render greatest 
service to others? 

Am I promptly on the job to look after my customer’s 
interests knowing that in the long run I am looking 
after my own interests? 

Am I always fair and loyal in my dealings and do I 
handle others with that tact and diplomacy that bring 
both profit and good will? 


94 


Am I developing all my qualities in harmony so as to 
produce a well balanced personality? 

MARKS OF A GOOD SALESMAN 

Will 1 insure my success by gaining a thorough knowl¬ 
edge of myself, my goods, my customers and my field 
of work? 

Do I know that I have the power to accomplish almost 
any desire if I only set about to do it? 

Do I know as much about my competitor's goods as my 
competitor himself and still more about my own? 

Do I study constantly human nature to learn what 
will appeal to a customer and what will repel him? 

Do I know the stages through which the mind of the 
customer must pass in coming to a sale and what to do 
to bring about those mental conditions? 

Do I know my field so well by study and actual exper¬ 
ience that I can cover it with the least amount of time 
and effort and with the largest volume of sales? 

Do I believe in myself, in the goods I am selling, in the 
house that I represent and in the possibilities of my 
territory? 

Do I look upon the best side of every condition and 
make the most of it? 

Do I feel my responsibility to society and study to find 
what I can do to advance its interests? 

Do I conduct myself in a businesslike manner, handle 
my goods with dispatch, enthuse the prospect when he 
grows indifferent, keep cool when antagonized and act 
the gentleman on all occasions? 

RELATION BETWEEN PRODUCER AND CONSUMER 

Do I have a clear vision of what I would do, if I were 
thrown upon my own resources? 

Would I know how to introduce a new article and get 
it upon the market? 

Do I see how a Salesman can at the same time work to 
the best interests of the producer, the consumer and the 
middleman? 

Do I bring together the needs of the consumer and the 
service of the producer and combine the various factors 
in such a way that all concerned will be satisfied? (That 
is the essence of Salesmanship.) 

Do I know that the customer seldom takes the initia- 


95 


tive in buying but that he is always ready to be shown 
the value of a proposition and to be properly sold? 

Do 1 know that old methods will no longer win in a 
big way and that the wide-awake Salesman always 
seems to have something new? 

Do I work hard on the one best form of advertising 
the good will of the satisfied customer? 

Do I cooperate with the House in every way possible 
to make my service more valuable to them? 

Do I use my initiative to develop new sales plans and 
to devise more effective ways of reaching the customer? 

Do 1 keep my eyes and ears open, make friends and 
find ways and means for cooperating with the trade? 

SECURING A POSITION 

Do I know how I would proceed if I were endeavoring 
to secure a position? 

Have I developed the self-confidence that would enable 
me to approach my prospective employer and convince 
him of my ability? 

Do I study newspaper want ads to see how the best 
ads are written? 

Do I know the qualities that an employer likes to see 
in a Salesman and am I determined to develop those 
qualities to a marked degree? 

Do I know how to talk to the point and tell a long story 
in a few words? 

In going after a position do I use the same Salesman¬ 
ship that a Salesman would use in landing a new and 
difficult prospect? 

Do I analyze the job and sell myself on my ability to 
handle it before I undertake to sell my prospective em¬ 
ployer? 

Do I learn the special requirements of the position I 
have in view and analyze myself to see how fully I can 
meet those requirements? 

Do I dress the part, act the part, find the right man to 
talk to and use my resources, experience, training, 
education and the help of agencies, references and if 
necessary the influence of friends in landing the position 
I have in view? 

Am I going to make this Course my constant friend 
and companion and my special counsellor to help me 
over the difficult places? Am I ready to do my part? 


96 


























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